PM Wale proposes to phase out PALM and RSE, and replace the schemes with local jobs that ‘earn the same kind of money’
BY IRWIN ANGIKI
with contribution by Duran Angiki, Brisbane
Prime Minister Matthew Wale has promised to end the Pacific Australian Labour Mobility (PALM) and Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) schemes.
Speaking at a dinner, hosted by the Solomon Islands diaspora in Canberra last week, Prime Minister Wale said his government was seriously looking at phasing out the PALM scheme in the next couple of years.
“It will take a little bit of time, but we have become that challenge. We’ve to make some tough decisions.
“We’ve got to be legislating also that we can create opportunities for our young (people), so that we significantly put a dent, big dent, in our youth unemployment and the lack of opportunity,” Wale said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAET) could not comment when sought on Monday this week by this paper.
The PM Press Secretariat has not responded to questions.
PM Wale, speaking to media after his arrival yesterday at the Honiara international airport reiterated this proposal.
“[PALM and RSE or any other labour mobility schemes are transitionary schemes. The economy has been neglected for so long, we have allowed this economy to just be what it is].
“[We have not been creating the opportunities for jobs and business opportunities for our people. That is why we have been sending them out].
“[But I look forward to the day when we will not be sending them out because everybody will be engaged in their own customary lands, right here in Solomon Islands].
“[So the vision GREAT coalition presented to our partners is to create those opportunities right here in Solomon Islands, earning the same kind of money you’d be earning in Queensland, earning right here, in your own land].
“[Of course it will take time, their partnership is important, that’s why we went and discussed. That’s the aim, that’s where we’re heading].”
It is not clear how GREAT will provide the proposed alternative of offering jobs and opportunities in Solomon Islands which equal those received in Australia and New Zealand.
Currently PALM and RSE are engaging more than 9,500 Solomon Islands workers, with Australia hosting 9,000. Since 2018 more than 12,000 Solomons workers have been engaged in the schemes.
PALM and RSE remittances to the Solomon Islands economy surpassed SBD 1.5 billion last year.
For now, government is aiming to increase the number of workers in PALM and RSE. Solomon Islands is aiming to deploy 16,000 workers by 2028.
Meanwhile, speaking to the Solomon Islands diaspora in Canberra on PALM, PM Wale said for now:
“It is good, plenty of our people came and helped Australia in the farms, meat works and other sectors. We want more to come.
“But it is a transitionary phase.
“We want to build our economy, so that the opportunities you’ll get in the Solomon Islands will be as good or better than the opportunities that you seek out here in Australia.
“That is what we want to see.”
With the right economic environment, there will be: “plenty opportunities in the Solomons, I hope – of course we only have a short window of 2 years left (in the life of the current term of parliament),” he said.
Beyond the transitionary phase, the Prime Minister said: “Unfortunately – we will not send many of our workers (under PALM scheme) to work in Australia”.
“We will have so many opportunities; we would have unshackled the economy from the clutches of the people who want to keep us poor, and profit of the back of our poor people. That we must bring it to an end,” he said.
“So, many of you are getting essential skills by working here, by being educated here. Please come home when the time is right or sooner”, Hon Wale said.
He urged members of the Australian-Solomon Islands diaspora to: “Come and create the right time. Be part of our discourse, be part of our journey to create the kind of Solomons we want to see”.
He said the government was conscious about the timeframe of two years left in the life of the current parliament before the next general elections in 2028.
But he affirmed his government’s commitment to addressing the issue in the next two years, saying it would be a “transitionary period” for the scheme.
The new policy change on PALM scheme was also backed by his Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ricky Houenipwela, in a face-to-face round table discussion with one of the PALM scheme major employers, Regional Workers Management (RWM) Group, in Brisbane.
During a Solomon Islands government delegation tour of one of the host companies, Golden Cockerel, Mount Cotton, South East Brisbane, on Friday, June 5, Houenipwela said government was looking at a “temporary permanent” solution.
He said there were areas in the PALM scheme that the government viewed as needing proper scrutiny and considerations to make it economically viable to both Solomon Islands and the host country (Australia).
During a Q&A session, Managing Director of PeopleIN, Tom Reardon, and RWM Group’s CEO, Brad Seagrott presented an overview of the RWM Group business operation that involved the recruitment of Solomon Islanders for host companies through Australia.
According to a spokesperson for DFAT, PALM scheme workers remitted over AUD$50m back to the Solomon Islands during the 2024/2025 financial year.
In the 2025/2026 financial year, Solomon Islands workers are estimated to remit AUD$70m back to the country.
The round table discussion was attended by Tom Reardon, Managing Director of PeopleIN, the umbrella company of RWM Group, Brad Seargroth, Chief Executive Director, Tim MacBride, Operation Manager, and Site and Operations Managers.
Others included the senior management staff of the host company, Golden Cockerel and personnel of the Department of Employment Workplace Relations (DEWR) and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) with over 20 workers from the Solomon Islands.
The visiting dignitaries were also taken on a tour of the factory and later treated to a bbq by the employer, RWM Group and host company, Golden Cockerel. The visit ended with the presentation of gifts to the visiting members of the delegation before a group photo.
Photo credit: Supplied
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