Will Solomon Islanders benefit from more overseas seasonal work as being advocated for Papua New Guineans?
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, James Marape, has said he wants to enable more young people from his country to go to New Zealand for seasonal work.
Prime Minister Marape has just returned home after a four-day state visit to New Zealand where he spent time visiting an apple orchard in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand... A number of Papua New Guineans work at the orchard as part of the Recognised Seasonal Employer, or RSE scheme.
According to a news bulletin from Radio New Zealand, today, Monday, Mr Marape and his delegation had taken note of procedural issues hindering the prospects of more PNG people joining the RSE scheme and when back in PNG would get the PNG Labour Department and the National ID Office to speed up processes.
The news bulletin also reported PM Marape saying, quote:
"Our government aims to promote this programme with New Zealand and Australia, where our people can save some of the money they earn and engage in starting up SMEs when they return home to PNG after they retire."
"It is obvious Australia and New Zealand will require our skilled labour in the not too distant future; hence we have to prepare our young people for this, and in the SME sector as well.”
It is know about 12,000 people from overseas, mostly from Pacific Islands countries, including from the Solomon Islands, work in the RSE scheme.
If it is correct what Prime Minister Marape said about Australia and New Zealand soon to require more skilled labour, and if there are “issues hindering the process of engagement. “are the circumstances and likely opportunities known to the Solomon Islands government and will Solomon Islanders benefit from more work opportunities as being advocated for PNG workers?
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
