Remittances and Labour Mobility in the Pacific A working paper on seasonal work programs in Australia for Pacific Islanders Nic Maclellan Peter Mares Remittances and Labour Mobility in the Pacific A working paper on seasonal work programs in Australia for Pacific Islanders Nic Maclellan and Peter Mares Pacific Labour and Australian Horticulture Project Institute for Social Research Swinburne University of Technology
[email protected] [email protected] Acknowledgements: This working paper is part of the project Pacific Labour and Australian Horticulture, being carried out at the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. The study is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant, with industry partners Oxfam Australia and two local government authorities – the Sunraysia Mallee Economic Development Board (Mildura) and the Economic Development Unit of the Swan Hill Rural City Council. The project is investigating the feasibility of a seasonal labour program to employ workers from Pacific Island nations to fill short-term job vacancies in horticulture in the Swan Hill / Mildura region of Victoria during periods of peak labour demand (such as harvests). As well as the research on remittances and labour mobility in the region, the wider study involves surveys of growers and potential employers in Victoria’s Murray Valley, and a detailed study on the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program – a long-running program which raises important issues for any such scheme between Australia and its nearest neighbours. This working paper is based on research conducted during field trips to Fiji and Tonga (June 2005), Vanuatu and New Caledonia (September 2005), and interviews with a range of government, church, academic and NGO representatives.