Comments

Well said in every way - great coverage. A true summary of Samoa 's political history over 40 years.

Very good to see this on-going debate on seasonal labour mobility in the Pacific - especially as it throws into stark relief an unscrutinised liberal approach and a complex systems approach. More research is needed from critical mobility studies that draws on new narrative empirics. These have the potential to better capture the nature of the complex negotiations that men and women, in all their diversities, engage in as part of the seasonal labour mobility-agricultural industrial complex, where overlapping interests create policy tensions.

Agreed, Richard, and our discussion of impacts in the substantive New Zealand and Pacific reports makes that clear. As we will explain in a more detailed response to your specific criticisms of the synthesis report (which is the primary focus of your comments) the impact study was considered by the commissioning agencies (MBIE and MFAT) to be an important input into a review of RSE policy that Immigration New Zealand is undertaking. We should have made this clearer in the Synthesis Report. We have realised that we did not include a summary statement about the scope of the impact study or its contribution to the on-going RSE policy review in that report. We will comment further on this in our more detailed response to your second and third blogs.

How did work? I have a nephew that came on seasonal Pacific sheme and now still want to apply for work visa because they stuck here, can you direct me how to apply for his visa.

Charlotte, Heather and Richard, Thanks for your feedback. You comment at the end that your report is 'very much about seeking to ensure there is some balance between benefits for RSE employers, benefits for workers and their families, and benefits for the communities that supply (Pacific) and host (New Zealand) the seasonal labour'. The challenge I am putting is who is best placed to do this for which part of the complex system. You also say that the RSE is 'a scheme that requires continual oversight of, and support for, different actors' but this begs the question as to who is to provide the oversight and support? I contend in this and the two coming blogs that it should not be government alone that does this.

Thanks for your review of the RSE Impact Study, Richard. We appreciate the attention you have given the three reports relating to this study. It is worth clarifying here that the Impact Study is situated in the context of the RSE scheme as an adaptive system of relationships between multiple stakeholders, building on the co-design foundations of the scheme that you describe in your last paragraph, and that have been examined extensively in earlier research by us as well as others. Earlier research has focused primarily on certain actors in the RSE system: RSE employers, RSE workers, industry organisations, and NZ and Pacific government agencies (Labour Sending Units), and the relationships and dynamics between them. Less attention has been paid to the local New Zealand communities that host thousands of RSE workers each season; and RSE workers’ island-based families and communities that must adjust to the regular absences of RSE workers for up to 7-9 months each year. The primary focus of the RSE Impact Study was on those two groups - NZ communities and RSE workers’ families and communities – in recognition, after a decade of the RSE scheme’s operation, of their significance as key stakeholders in the RSE system. As we explain in the RSE Impact Study Synthesis Report: “the RSE scheme is a complex adaptive system. It has lots of components and interdependencies between them. It is susceptible to (unpredictable) change and evolution over time. Accordingly, it is a scheme that requires continual oversight of, and support for, different actors – RSE employers, horticulture and viticulture industries, NZ communities, PIC governments, RSE workers, their families and communities – to understand their interrelationships and how their interactions can best be organised to ensure the policy’s objectives are kept in balance in future.” While the RSE Impact Study does not make reference to Rajan’s work on the evolution of society as a function of relationships between three pillars -- the market, the state and the community -- it is very much about seeking to ensure there is some balance between benefits for RSE employers, benefits for workers and their families, and benefits for the communities that supply (Pacific) and host (New Zealand) the seasonal labour. We look forward to reading the remainder of your review and will comment more extensively on your criticisms in a separate blog. Charlotte, Heather and Richard 20 April 2021

Barrick, ICSID and PNG While PNG is celebrating its new deal with Barrick, which may lead to the re-opening of the Porgera mine by the end of the year, available sources of information suggest that the ‘new deal’ is little different from the deal that Barrick freely offered to the PNG government more than a year ago, prior to the expiry of the Porgera mining lease. Meanwhile the Barrick (NL) v PNG Conciliation Commission tribunal has now closed and made its report to the ICSID. The Commission held its first session on 17 March 2021. PNG did not respond to notifications and did not appear before the Commission. Accordingly the Commission declared the proceedings closed on 9 April 2021 and made its report to ICSID. The Commission was self-terminating. The ICSID arbitration case between Barrick (Australia) and PNG remains open. The Tribunal was constituted on 22 March 2021 following the ICSID appointment of an arbitrator for PNG and an arbitral chairman. The appointments were made by ICSID because PNG failed to respond to ICSID notifications. Barrick’s arguments in the PNG domestic courts for its legitimate expectations (backed by statute) in respect of a mining lease renewal were successfully frustrated by the PNG government largely by arguments relying on the PNG Constitutional provision that made NEC decisions non-justiciable (except by way of judicial review). The PNG government may now have come to the realisation that these domestic successes would, in the international law context of an ICSID arbitration, support the Barrick contention that the PNG government had expropriated Barrick’s investment by way of ‘denial of justice’. Consequently it had become clear that for Barrick to take further legal action in the PNG courts was likely to be futile. Clear also to the PNG government was that travelling down the ICSID arbitration path was likely to take years and not likely to be resolved in PNG’s favour. So, ICSID has done its job. The result can be counted a success for ICSID. Meanwhile the PNG government has taken on the task of re-addressing its responsibilities to both customary landowners affected by the mine’s operations and other affected citizens. As a state PNG has the responsibility, both under international law and the PNG Constitution, to effectively uphold and maintain the human rights of its citizens. For this to have meaning and substance in the context of a future Porgera mining development contract the institutions of justice must be readily available and accessible to all within the environs of the mine. Vailala PS. The PACER Plus agreement has an investment chapter but there is no provision for an investor-state dispute resolution process.

Jonathan, by looking at a current passenger movement trends in PNG, its international movement has been significantly affected, despite the minor resurgence in domestic flights.

Interesting take on power play in the Pacific particularly in Fiji.

Hi John, hope you are well. I read your peice and the piece by Rohan Fox, but I am a little confused. Why would PNG buyers along the border with Indonesia insist on being paid in Kina only, when there is a foreign exchange shortage in PNG.

I am seeking help to register as a Church based Training Service Provider for CDWs. I promote Farmer to Farmer Extension Approach and progressing to Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) formation and market linking. Field Workers are needed for this excercise to develop Community or FPO Extension Service Providers. I need guidance to register as CDW Training Service Provider. Please help.

How effective was Covid19 affecting the PNG Air lines