NCJ Number
236803
Date Published
November 2011
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper presents a literature review of Australia's Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme (PSWPS), which is designed to enable Pacific Islanders to work temporarily in the horticultural sectors and also to allow East Timorese access to tourism work in Australia.
Abstract
The design and implementation of Australia's PSWPS has been informed by New Zealand's Recognized Seasonal Employment (RSE) Program, supplemented with targeted stakeholder consultations conducted between 2008 and 2010 in the Pacific. It has incorporated key protections in response to the identification of some of the risks to exploitation that such schemes can pose. These measures include active regulation and monitoring of the scheme and tight controls over a limited number of approved employers. Under the Australian model, by mid-2011, a small number of approved employers/labor hire companies had been selected by the Australian Government. These employers, which include some growers, are licensed to recruit and supply workers to farmers. Farmers who have demonstrated they cannot attract Australian workers, including Indigenous Australians, can apply for access to Pacific Island workers. At this early stage, the PSWPS has generally been viewed as a positive development in the legal sourcing and use of overseas labor. Consistent with beast practice, an interim evaluation has been undertaken, and a full evaluation of the PSWPS is currently being conducted. The final report is to be published in late 2011. Expansion of the PSWPS may be challenging, given the labor supply problems and risks of exploitation in the horticultural and wider agricultural industry that have been identified in this paper. The scheme has the potential to exacerbate the risk of exploitation in labor source countries. Continued monitoring and management will be required in order to prevent, identify, and curtail any exploitation and abuse of the PSWPS. 1 table and 32 references