Australia is taking further steps to ensure Pacific workers in the PALM scheme receive fair pay, secure working conditions, and vital protections especially in lower-skilled and seasonal jobs where vulnerability is higher.

First Assistant Secretary for Labour Mobility, Skills and Education at DFAT Jan Hutton highlighted a series of mandatory protections designed to guarantee fair treatment and reliable income for PALM participants.

She outlined the measures at a roundtable talanoa hosted at the Australian High Commission in Suva.

Hutton says to ensure workers have financial stability, PALM employers are now required to provide a minimum of 120 paid work hours every four weeks.

“So every PALM worker needs to be able to take home $200. And if a PALM worker does receive less than 20 hours of work a week, so there’s 120 over four weeks, but in some of the agricultural areas, for example, there might be seasonal factors. But if they receive less than 20 hours a week, then their employee is required to cover the cost of their accommodation and transport and things like that.”

She says a range of welfare initiatives have also been introduced to further protect vulnerable workers.

“So we have made mandatory what we call cultural competency training. So every one of our employers in our scheme has to undertake cultural competency training. We’ve also required our workers to appoint their own worker welfare officers so that PALM workers have someone that they know they can turn to. We do have a 24-7 helpline that PALM workers can access at any time. And in addition, the Australian government funds what we call community liaison officers.”

Hutton stresses that with $440 million invested into the PALM scheme, the Australian Government has made clear its intention to not only grow the program but also ensure its sustainability and fairness.

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