Comments

The difficulty seems to be that reducing reliance on backpackers does not automatically mean PALM workers can fill the same roles. Small growers often need labour at short notice and for relatively brief periods, while PALM comes with a very different structure. The exploitation concerns are legitimate, but a lottery and dramatic reduction in places could create new problems unless the replacement labour system is flexible enough to match how regional employers actually operate.

Hi Stephen, I'm an accommodation provider in this sector. We work with both PALM and backpacker workers. In this role we interact with a wide range of different farms, and for many who rely on backpacker workers we facilitate their casual workforce. Many small growers cannot work within the current conditions that accompany the PALM scheme. The risk and expense is too great. And many large growers are able to mitigate inherent PALM risks and enjoy the stability that PALM workers afford over backpackers. We need both of these groups. In most situations, a backpacker is not simply interchangeable with a PALM worker. You note the rapid increase of backpacker numbers to ~90,000. Looking deeper into country of origin you'll find this is largely driven by visitors from UK. The whole ballot system for backpackers is glaring in its omission of UK citizens. They're not included in the figures being discussed. The Australia-UK FTA decoupled British backpackers from all other WHM's in the requirement to undertake regional work to secure a second or third year visa. This is single handedly driving the surge in overall numbers. Something like 80,000 alone of the 90,000 are from the UK. Almost immediately after FTA was implemented Brits stopped going to regional areas. Just a couple of years ago around 60% of our WHM guests were from the UK, today it's more like 10%. This is a one-sided FTA. WHM on 417 Visa's from the UK are now effectively on an uncapped, multi-year work visa with no location requirements in place. We can't have an honest conversation about WHM numbers and PALM worker numbers unless we understand all the levers being pulled. We need WHM to be in regional areas. We need PALM workers in regional areas. Each of these cohorts deserve a safe place to live and the same worker protections we demand for Australians. All of these things can be true at the same time. This announcement from the government is not a good one. It's creating tremendous uncertainty while fundamentally misunderstanding the needs of regional communities and smaller businesses and ignoring other cohorts driving higher numbers. More than happy to have a deeper conversation if useful.

I am the vice chairman for Promaga Cooperative Society a newly established Cooperative Society and the Society is planning to introduce Cocoa farming to the community in our area and we need some professional advice on how to go about the cocoa project.Big thanks to the organization of this page.

Very encouraging article to the fate of those students who left the comfort of their home and family in pursuit of education in big town and cities. Those challenges encounted in the journey of education makes us a stronger person in life. Up here looking back, the view is beautiful, and it wouldn't be that beautiful if we haven't taken that first step outside of our comfort zone. Thankyou for sharing your story to encourage others.

I enjoyed this piece as I am from Oxford and my daughter has made friends in school from this community, so I was looking up some information on the increase of Timor Leste nationals in Oxford. What I do wonder is why the names of the family are not given in the photo, nor in the article, yet the non-Timorese are named. I find this extremely odd as a piece that seemingly advocates for the Timorese community, and yet fails to give them their identity. I appreciate that children's names will not be given, but given that this is a legacy piece, I think a name is a way of making clear that this is a very personal account and that it should be given the respect it deserves. I would very much appreciate your response to explain why this approach was taken.

The people in the urban areas benefit more from this relief than rural and a case is made for this benefit to be made even. However, the urban population of what 20% happen to pay 80% of the tax (or some significant proportion) and if that's the case then it may make sense for the current arrangement to remain. The urban population has more disposable income as a result and the tax from this is captured more efficiently in the urban compared to rural you might say.

Wonderful research and factual data real issues affecting our education system. There has been a lot of informative and well done research presented to the Education board, however, it lacks timely implementation. This is we are still behind and low in literacy rate compared to our pacific island countries. Commend this research.

Very true. Everything in PNG is Politicized and Corrupt through Money and Bribery.

Thank you for this thought provoking article. From my perspective, local may need to be understood more broadly than simply local or national organisations. I would suggest looking at it across several interconnected levels: 1. Local as an institution Includes formal and informal governance structures, traditional institutions, basic service delivery systems, community based mechanisms and practices, and other locally recognised authorities that shape how decisions are made and how resources are governed. 2. Local as a system It is also an ecosystem of relationships between communities, civil society, government or (formal/informal) governance structures, service providers, networks, markets, donors and other actors. Localisation therefore requires changing how the system functions (e.g. State, Civil Society and Market) not only Civil Society (NGO centric) focus, transferring funding from an international organisation to a local organisation. 3. Local as an organisation Local and national organisations are certainly critical actors in localisation. But localisation should go beyond their role as implementers or recipients of funding. It should strengthen their ability to define priorities, make decisions, mobilise resources, lead coordination, influence policy, and shape the wider system. 4. Local as a community This is perhaps the most important level. As the article highlights from the Myanmar experience, communities themselves often understand localisation through leadership, self-reliance, local priorities, mutual support and resilience. Ultimately, localisation should contribute to communities having greater agency over decisions that affect their lives not simply to local organisations receiving more funding. 5. Local as an individual actor Local also exists at the level of individuals, community leaders, professionals, technical experts, activists, volunteers, women and youth leaders, and other people with local knowledge and relationships. Their agency, voice and ability to influence decisions can easily be overlooked when localisation is discussed only in terms of organisations. I appreciate the question, What do we actually mean by local? It is an important one, because how we define local also shapes how we approach power, resources, and decision making in pursuit of humanitarian and development goals.

Very good piece. One thing to note is there are limitations for the alternative policies like cash transfer (majority of the poor households don't have bank accounts, etc). Will be good to also highlight the limitations and how the government can address this limitations. Second, some of the major supermarkets apart from competion as mentioned could be benefit from economies of scale and easily passed the tax cuts and also reputable company when it comes to adhereing to goverment tax policies and issues like compliance (high compliance).

RSE source countries have often taken a relatively passive role in recruitment policy, while employers have tended to recruit from communities that are easier and less costly to access. Samoa’s recent reforms are a positive attempt to broaden participation by creating more opportunities for communities that have historically been under-represented in labour mobility schemes. Other Pacific countries face greater practical barriers, particularly where potential workers live on remote outer islands. These barriers may help explain why remittances reach many poorer households but remain concentrated in absolute value among better-off households. This distributional issue may be reinforced by international procurement requirements, including the Employer Pays Principle, under which employers meet migrant recruitment costs, including travel. Although the principle protects workers from recruitment debt, it can also make distant countries and communities more expensive to recruit from and therefore structurally less competitive. If labour mobility is intended to reach poorer and under-represented households, policy settings may need to offset these access costs rather than leave them entirely with individual employers.

This is certainly useful research, showing that the poor don't get much benefit. But I'm not sure it's right to suggest that a cash transfer to every household or scaling up the pilot child grant program would be any better in PNG. Both of those other options would be almost impossible to achieve comprehensively. They would also have impressive admin costs and foster massive corruption, so are effectively pie in the sky. This doesn't of course detract from the main conclusion that the food subsidy is largely ineffectual and inefficient in helping the poorest.