Since the 1980s, Australian academics and official reports have called for Pacific Islanders to be given better access to the Australian labour market. The Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme was introduced in August 2008. The scheme allows Pacific Islanders to engage in farm work in Australia for up to seven months a year. The Government has just announced that the scheme will be made permanent. But, while numbers are increasing, participation in the scheme has been disappointingly low, with less than 1,000 workers participating to the end of last year.

In contrast to Australia, New Zealand has always offered preferential migration treatment to its Pacific neighbours. It has granted citizenship to all residents of the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. The Samoan Quota Scheme set up in 1970 allows up to 1,100 Samoan nationals to become permanent residents of New Zealand every year. And the Pacific Access Category introduced in 2002 allows another up to 750 Pacific Islanders to become permanent residents annually.

New Zealand also introduced a seasonal workers scheme (the Recognised Seasonal Employer - RSE) one year before Australia, in 2007. The RSE program has proven popular, with some 8,000 Pacific Islanders working in New Zealand under the scheme in 2009. The RSE program has also been extensively evaluated, from both a domestic and international perspective. The findings of the evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive.

This one day conference will draw on the latest research on both the NZ and the Australian schemes, from a domestic and an international perspective. Key questions to be explored are:

- What are the lessons of the NZ experience?
- Why has take-up for the Australian Seasonal Workers Scheme not been higher, and what are the prospects for the Scheme?
- What policy reforms are required for Australia to provide win-win outcomes: beneficial for the Pacific, and beneficial for our economy?

» view program, [PDF,234KB]
» Graeme Hugo, [PDF,1.58MB]
» Danielle Hay and Stephen Howes, [PDF,858KB]
» John Gibson, [PDF,803KB]
» Mathea Roorda, [PDF,302KB]
» Richard Bedford, [PDF,272KB]
» Sankar Ramasamy, [PDF,1.27MB]
» Richard Brown, [PDF,234KB]
» Kirstie Petrou and John Connell, [PDF,1MB]

videos

» morning session one
» morning session two
» afternoon session one
» afternoon session two