Fiji To Be Blacklisted From Australia Worker Scheme?
(Fiji Times)
Fiji is expected to miss out on a guest workers scheme as Australia follows New Zealand in placing more pressure on Fiji's interim regime, the Fiji Times reports.
The Daily Telegraph reports that while Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu will be able to send seasonal workers to Australia, “Fiji will be blacklisted from participating in the trial — a move likely to further inflame relations between Canberra and Suva.”
About 5,000 workers are to be recruited for work on farms and vineyards.
However the Australian High Commission in Suva said the Australian government had not taken a decision on a labour mobility scheme, and it was not possible for the High Commission to provide a response to questions on the matter.
The plan is to be considered by the Australian cabinet on June 19, allowing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to unveil the program at the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting in Niue.
The move to ban Fiji’s participation was strongly opposed by academic Dr. Wadan Narsey who said depriving unskilled Fiji workers from guest schemes like in New Zealand was punishing poor people in Fiji and not the military it was intended for.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=91746
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23832283-5001021,00.html
