theguardian.com
The Pacific worker scheme is in Australia’s economic and strategic interests. But its future hinges on fixing its flaws | Peter Mares for the Conversation
Giving workers access to Medicare and making it easier for them to change jobs would help solve the scheme’s problems
The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme (Palm) is a crucial source of workers across regional Australia. About 32,000 people from nine Pacific nations and Timor-Leste work in Australia under Palm.
Over seven months of researching the scheme – interviewing workers, employers, country liaison officers, trade union organisers, community volunteers and academics, as well as digging into the data on it – I didn’t encounter anyone who thought it was a bad idea. Continue reading...
