Banning Solomon Islands workers ‘a step too far’

The Morrison government ruled out using its biggest ‘stick’ to avert the Solomon Islands-China security deal – threatening the country’s access to the ­Pacific workers program.

Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare. Picture: Kym Smith

The Morrison government ruled out using its biggest “stick” to avert the Solomon Islands-China security deal – threatening the country’s access to Australia’s lucrative ­Pacific workers program.

About 3000 Solomon Islanders are currently working in Australia under the scheme – an initiative China cannot replicate – sending millions of dollars home to their families in remittances.

Senior government sources said the prospect of suspending the Solomon Islands’ access to the scheme was discussed “at the highest levels”, but there was a strong consensus that “we should not ­retaliate or punish” the country’s people for the actions of their Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare.

“Of course we looked at all the options. But the very clear view is it would cause more problems than it would deliver in benefits,” one said. “We want to keep the good relationship that Australia has with the people of Solomon ­Islands, even if the government is angry with us.

“It would also send a bad message to all of the Pacific that Australia is not a reliable and consistent partner.”

Another senior source said the option was “out of the ballpark”, because it would have inflamed tensions with the country and risked encouraging even closer ties between the Solomons and China. Solomon Islands political sources said Mr Sogavare’s leadership would have come under ­intense pressure if Australia threatened the country’s access to the scheme, because of its economic importance to everyday people in the country. “The biggest stick is if Morrison threatened Solomons with suspension from the labour mobility scheme. ­Sogavare would face a ­serious political backlash,” one said.

Australia’s relationship with its Pacific neighbour hit rock bottom this week when Mr Sogavare ­accused critics of his China pact of threatening his country “with ­invasion”, and treating it like “kindergarten students walking around with Colt .45s in our hands”.

The comments were widely ­interpreted as a response to Scott Morrison’s warning that a Chinese base in Solomon Islands would be a “red line” for Australia, and US Indo-Pacific co-ordinator Kurt Campbell’s declaration that the US would “respond accordingly” to any Chinese military presence in the country.

Campaigning in Perth on Friday, Mr Morrison stood by his warning, declaring “we’ve been very clear – as we always have – about what Australia’s national ­security interests are”. “We’ve also always been very clear about the very high levels of support that we’ve always provided to the people of Solomon ­Islands and the Solomon Islands government,” the Prime Minister said.

Earlier this week he said he was following the advice of “security and intelligence agencies” on how best to handle the crisis. Solomon Islands high commissioner to Australia, Robert Sisilo, said the ­Pacific Area Labour Mobility Scheme was “very important” for his country, where about 65 per cent of the population were aged between 20 and 40.

“We have a lot of young people leaving school at the end of the year, and there are just not enough jobs for everybody,” Mr Sisilo said.

He said in Honiara, Western Union money transfer offices were regularly crowded with people waiting on money from relatives doing agricultural work in Australia. “The beauty of this labour scheme is when they send money home it goes straight into the hands of their mothers and ­fathers. There is nobody in between,” Mr Sisilo said.

He said Solomon Islands hoped to see its access to the scheme ­expanded, and was wary of the government’s new Australian Agriculture Visa, fearing Australian farmers would use it to replace Pacific workers with Southeast Asian labour.