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Our ‘Pacific family’. Heroes, guests, workers or a precariat?

Our ‘Pacific family’. Heroes, guests, workers or a precariat? Australia launched a Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) in 2012, shortly after a similar scheme in New Zealand, to bring seasonal workers from Pacific Island Countries (PICS) to work in agriculture. The scheme was seen as a potential ‘Triple Win' with sending and receiving countries, and workers' households, benefiting. Workers’ remittances contributed to welfare, especially housing and education, and small business establishment, but there were social costs associated with repeated absences. In 2018, Australia introduced the Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) to extend guestwork opportunities into other areas of non-seasonal labour shortage such as aged care, tourism and meat processing. The shortage of local labour during COVID-19 demonstrated that Pacific guestworkers were invaluable to Australia, and in 2022 the schemes were revamped and expanded further as the PALM (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility) Scheme. Concern over a Chinese threat in the region gave further support for the expansion. PICs expressed concerns about exploitative practices, while higher rates of participation increased the potential for an incipient brain drain from the PICs, with wages roughly four times those at home, as migrants now left non-agricultural jobs. The expanded scheme continues to favour Australian employers leaving questions over, equity, uneven development and the future of the PICs. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Geographer Taylor & Francis

Our ‘Pacific family’. Heroes, guests, workers or a precariat?

Petrou, Kirstie; Connell, John
Australian Geographer , Volume 54 (2): 11 – Apr 3, 2023
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
ISSN
1465-3311
eISSN
0004-9182
DOI
10.1080/00049182.2023.2203348
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Australia launched a Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) in 2012, shortly after a similar scheme in New Zealand, to bring seasonal workers from Pacific Island Countries (PICS) to work in agriculture. The scheme was seen as a potential ‘Triple Win' with sending and receiving countries, and workers' households, benefiting. Workers’ remittances contributed to welfare, especially housing and education, and small business establishment, but there were social costs associated with repeated absences. In 2018, Australia introduced the Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) to extend guestwork opportunities into other areas of non-seasonal labour shortage such as aged care, tourism and meat processing. The shortage of local labour during COVID-19 demonstrated that Pacific guestworkers were invaluable to Australia, and in 2022 the schemes were revamped and expanded further as the PALM (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility) Scheme. Concern over a Chinese threat in the region gave further support for the expansion. PICs expressed concerns about exploitative practices, while higher rates of participation increased the potential for an incipient brain drain from the PICs, with wages roughly four times those at home, as migrants now left non-agricultural jobs. The expanded scheme continues to favour Australian employers leaving questions over, equity, uneven development and the future of the PICs.

Journal

Australian Geographer – Taylor & Francis

Published: Apr 3, 2023

Keywords: Guestworkers; labour mobility; Pacific; employment; agriculture; migration

References

  • From Blackbirds to Guestworkers in the South Pacific.Plus ça Change … ?
  • Samoa’s New Labour Trade
  • Voluntary Underclass? Globalism, Temporality, and the Life Choices of Japanese Working Holiday Makers in Australia
  • “We Don’t Feel Free at all”: Temporary ni-Vanuatu Workers in the Riverina, Australia
  • Overcoming Precarity? Social Media, Agency and Ni-Vanuatu Seasonal Workers in Australia
  • Beyond the ‘Triple Win’: Pacific Farmworkers’ use of Social Media to Navigate Labour Mobility Costs and Possibilities Through the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Taiwanese Working Holiday Makers in Rural and Regional Australia: Temporary Transnational Identities and Employment Challenges
  • Addressing Problems for Labour not Problems of Labour: The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Work and Industrial Relations Policy