Australia, NZ clash over Pacific workers

Australia and New Zealand should be cooperating, rather than competing, to recruit seasonal workers from the Pacific, a NZ horticulture executive said.
Australia's National Farmers Federation (NFF) this week said about 100,000 more workers were needed in the rural sector and called on the Australian government to fill the gap with people from the Pacific Islands.
New Zealand mainly relies on Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Kiribati to provide thousands of seasonal workers.
Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock said he hoped Australia would target workers from other Pacific islands with high levels of unemployment, such as the Solomon Islands.
"We would be concerned if Australia targeted the same nations on which we have focused. Australia and New Zealand need to take a cooperative approach," he said.
"We could learn a lot from each other, and work together to spread the benefits through more of the South Pacific."
Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans told The Age newspaper he was looking at the New Zealand scheme using unskilled workers from Pacific islands for seasonal work.
"New Zealand is trialling such a scheme and we are looking at how that is progressing and what lessons might be learned," Evans said.
New Zealand introduced its Recognised Seasonal Workers Scheme in the wake of allegations that up to 80 per cent of contractors supplying seasonal labour had been operating outside of the law.
The scheme allows guest workers to be flown in from the Pacific Islands for seven months of the year, but employers have to ensure the quality of their housing and take responsibility for over stayers.
Employers also have to advance as much as $NZ1,000 ($A880) upfront, including part of the airfares and medical and police checks, and to guarantee at least 240 hours' work.

NZPA