Comments

Hi Armin, sorry I didn't see yours and Phuong's responses until now. I'd be keen to see any follow up work that you undertake on this subject as its highly relevant to our work. I couldn't see your email; mine is on the thread and I have Phuong on LinkedIn. Tim

On behalf of the political science student I am more than happy for this survey conducted which summarizes the election at the campus and gives a view of how future elections should be conducted to the best interest of the students, administration and general public who come across this article. Just to add to this survey do we really measure the election by this survey? If then I can conclude that majority students did perform well internationally casting their votes out of fear or favour. But in actual cases a bit different correct me if am wrong, students do vote based on other reasons like their friends more than just good policies. Thus, one of the things I think we have to look in to is to carry out more awareness to students to do away with any other favors than good policies with academically well performance. Thanks, just my view:

Thank you Susan for your effort and time spent to finalise an informative yet helpful resource for PNG and other developing countries. I am midwife from PNG, I do understand the realities and challenges within maternal child health arena. Your study is evident to prove to the respective hierarchies to make informed decisions to improve services. It's a collaborative effort and to date, there are progress made and yours was one of those major contributions. Thanks much Nancy

Hi Nick, The blog generally covers the state of SIP over the years since its inception in 2007. The K2.573 billion stated in the article is from the 2020 budget.

Hi Jonathan, The link is broken again. You could replace it with the archived version at https://web.archive.org/web/20160603013156/http://aidontheedge.info/author/bramalingam/

Thank you for providing relevant information through this blog about the new report released from the Curtin University that is Not-for-profit Initiative which gives us some insight into the scale and profile of the Australian charity sector, including those organizations sending money or working overseas.

As was noted in the UN’s 2014 Report on the State of Human Development in the Pacific: A Report on Vulnerability and Exclusion in a Time of Rapid Change, emigration, particularly to New Zealand, had had a major impact on the population of Samoa. Many young Samoans leave for education and work, or to simply join their families. Others are selected under the Samoan Quota Scheme, which provides for up to 1,100 Samoans to be granted residence in New Zealand each year. The impact of Samoan migration on the population can be seen in an analysis of the 1976 and 2011 census data contained in that report (Box 3.1). This suggested that emigration had amounted to around 50 percent of each 1976 age cohort by the time members had reached their late 30s. For example, people born between 1972 and 1976 would have been aged between 35 and 39 at the 2011 census. In 1976, there were 24,646 children aged between 0 and 4 years living in Samoa. Taking account of the estimated number of natural deaths expected from birth to that age, it was estimated that there should have been a population of about 23,300 aged between 35 and 39 at the 2011 census. In fact, there were only 10,877 persons recorded in the 35-39 year cohort in that census, this suggests that around half of the people in the original 0-4 year age cohort in 1976 had migrated by the age of 35-39 years. Proportionate migration estimates can also be seen from subsequent cohorts in the 1981 and 1986 census suggesting that this is a stable pattern of migration. Sources: 1976 & 2011 Census of Population, Samoa Bureau of Statistics.

Excellent article Rochelle. Needs to be talked about. The role of LSU's and local diaspora's in understanding and discouraging this course of action could be strengthened as you suggest. If it is an issue that an SWP or PLS worker has with their AE, I'm not aware of any other worker in Australia that can pick up a phone and with one call, reach the head of the program or senior officers in Canberra or the FWO. So access to official assistance is not the issue. It also doesn't help that Border Force does not have the resources to play a stronger role in repatriating or apprehending people even when they are made aware of their whereabouts. Perhaps not viewed as a security threat, which is understandable, in this time of uncertainty, but it doesn't help any of us to deal with this or those who encourage absconders.

I'd just add to Richard's response that you could charge employers to fund government SWP services, but then employers would be more likely to hire from other countries, so fewer ni-Vanuatu would get to work on the SWP. Stephen

Mr Gande your analysis is very useful, however which Budget year did you use to make your analysis

Thank you. I think even more so the workers and prospective workers need to be heard and develop agency. In all of this to date they have had little of either. Hoping whatever changes are made work for their benefit.

Jean, thanks for your response. It is my view that the agent recruitment system does need governance reforms to make it more effective. I reached this conclusion after spending some time collecting feedback from agents by email, talking to them and to workers while preparing a report for the Government in 2018 on a framework for a new national labour mobility policy. The agents now need to work out themselves as a group what reforms they think are needed and to propose them to the government.