PNG exercises caution over Australia's worker scheme

20/08/2008 20:00:02

Papua New Guinea says it remains cautious about the possibility of labour exploitation under a pilot scheme where Pacific Islanders will be offered seasonal jobs in Australia.

Radio Australia's Firmin Nanol reports under the program Pacific Islanders will be able to seek seasonal jobs in Australia.

Papua New Guinea is among one of four countries, including Tonga, Kiribati and Vanuatu, included in the program.

PNG's agriculture minister, John Hickey, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program he is cautious about his citizens being exploited by employers in Australia.

"One of my big fears is the Australian government had special work visas where they issued to workers coming from Asia and they found that is some cases, those people were being exploited by employers,: he said.

"The Australian government I'm told has learnt through that experience and they don't want it repeated with our people going to Australia for rural work.

Mr Hickey says he would like to see the Australian government put mechanisms in place whereby they would be protected from exploitation by employers.

"First we would like to see that our workers belong to a trade union in Australia, because they would receive some protection from exploitation if they became trade unionists."

Australia's agriculture minister, Tony Burke, says that while final details of the scheme are yet to be worked out, he has warned Pacific Islanders not to listen to anyone acting as agents for Australian farms to pay fees to get visas to work in Australia.

"I would also encourage a level of caution because I don't want people to be caught out in any way through operators who pretend to be part of the scheme," he said.

"We want people to be working for Australian wages and being able to provide the benefit of Australian wages back to their communities through seasonal labour.

The pacific seasonal worker scheme will start mid next year.

You can find the full story at the Pacific Beat website: http://radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat

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