Solomon Islands Ready to Supply More Workers to Australia and NZ

Trade Commissioner in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Mr Barrett Salato, said Solomon Islands is ready to supply more workers to Australia and New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) and Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) schemes.

Mr Salato made the assurances during Pacific Labour Mobility Annual Meeting (PLMAM) held in Apia, Samoa, from 7-10 November 2022.

The Pacific Labour Mobility Annual Meeting is a regional forum set up under PACER+ Labour Mobility Arrangement where representatives from PACER+ parties, observers countries, Employers, Regional Bodies, and workers meet annually to discuss issues surrounding regional labour mobility arrangements and how they can be improved and harnessed to address the development needs of the participating countries.

Presenting Solomon Islands’ case to more than 150 participants during the meeting, Mr Salato said the increasing interests by Solomon Islanders to apply for the schemes shows that we can supply workers to Australia and New Zealand.

“Last year we received 8,250 applicants. We expect to receive more than 15,000 applicants when the next recruitment drive take place”.

Mr Salato added that while we have a robust recruitment processes in place, we would need partners’ support and resources to strengthen our national capacity at the LMU and also our offices in the host countries to handle the increasing demand for seasonal employment in the country.

Trade Commissioner also acknowledged Australia and New Zealand’s recent improvements to the schemes on increasing of cap, expanding to other sectors and removing of age limit.

The 2022 PLMAM meeting ended on Thursday with approval of Vanuatu as the host of the 2023 PLMAM.

—MFAET PRESS RELEASE