PALM scheme: Pacific workers sheltering Aussie ag industry

New data reveals PALM workers have flooded into Australia in recent months, as the federal government confirms plans to expand its Pacific labour strategy.

The federal government has revealed plans to expand Australia’s Pacific temporary labour strategy as new data shows more than 37,000 workers are currently participating in the scheme.

Data released to The Weekly Times by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations finds 71 per cent, or 26,200, of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme workers are employed in the horticulture sector and 24 per cent, or 8800, in meat processing, with the remainder scattered through accommodation, and aged and disability care.

Last October’s federal budget set out a plan for the PALM scheme to reach 35,000 workers by June 2023, however that target was met several months early.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Penny Wong revealed plans to expand the program to the French territory of New Caledonia.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said discussions were also underway between the Australian and Papua New Guinean governments to approve an extra 8000 PNG workers by 2025.

Sols Nurtano is one of the many hard workers to have benefited from the Pacific Island Workers Program

The PALM scheme is a temporary circular labour migration program between Australia and the Pacific and Timor-Leste that fills unskilled, low and semi-skilled workforce shortages across rural and regional Australia.

The data shows short-term workers remitted an average of $1061 a month back to their home countries and longer-term workers about $1300. A family accompaniment trial of 200 families will commence later in the year.

A report into Australia’s migration and visa system, commissioned late last year following large visa processing backlogs and claims of migrant worker exploitation, will be released before the federal budget is handed down in May.