This is the first book to examine the contemporary seasonal migration of Pacific islanders to Australia through the Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP). It reflects on this new age of guestwork from a broad social, economic, political and cultural perspective in both source countries and destinations. In so doing, it offers a critical perspective on different phases of managed labour migration from nineteenth century practices of ‘blackbirding’ to the present day. This book examines why and how guestworker policies and programmes have developed, and the impact this has had in Australia and for the people, villages and islands of the sending states. It particularly focuses on Vanuatu, the main source of labour, and draws upon studies based in Australia, Vanuatu and other Pacific Island countries. The book therefore traces new patterns of migration, with intriguing economic and social consequences, that are restructuring parts of rural and regional Australia in response to labour demands from agriculture and evolving regional geopolitics.
Author(s): Kirstie Petrou, John Connell
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 515
City: Singapore
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
Abbreviations
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Introduction: A New Age of Temporary Migration?
History
The Pacific Island Countries
Bibliography
2: The Pacific Island Countries
Late Independence and Development
Economic Development
Agriculture, Forests and Fish
Mines
Tourism
Employment, Incomes and Poverty
Trade
Aid
Overcoming Tyrannies of Distance?
Bibliography
3: Two Centuries of Pacific Migration
Complex Labour Flows
Blackbirding: The Early Labour Trade
The Diversification of Migration
Urbanisation
The Global Long Boom: International Migration
Hazards and Resettlement
Remittances
National Strategies and Migration Schemes
The Precedence of Kiribati and Tuvalu
Policy Detours
APTC and KANI
The Diversity of Migration
Bibliography
4: The Revival of Guestwork
A Twentieth-Century Twist—Back to Agriculture
A Theoretical Detour … and a Context
Hard Realities
Enter the World Bank
The Canadian Model
Labour Shortages and Development Directions
Bibliography
5: Early Days
New Zealand and the Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme
Australia and the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme
The Pilot Schemes in Operation
Vanuatu
Recruiting from Tanna, Vanuatu
From Vanuatu to New Zealand and Australia
Tonga
First Movers
An Early Triple Win?
Bibliography
6: Taking Part
Where Do Workers Come From?
Recruitment
Pacific Labour Migration Policies and Legislation
Agents: Advantages and Pitfalls
Employer Involvement in Recruitment
Worker Selection: Knowing the Right People
Selecting Workers: Community Involvement?
Geographies of Participation
Return Workers
Demographic Trends and Structures
The High Cost of Labour Migration
Pre-departure and Arrival Training: On to the Job
Winners and Losers? Uneven Beginnings
Bibliography
7: Destination Australia
Labour Shortages?
A Crisis and Clues from COVID-19
The Geography of Seasonal Work in Australia
Employers’ Perspectives
On the Job
Economic Gains
Remittances
Accommodation
Getting Around?
Health Costs
Work and Welfare
Bibliography
8: Social Worlds
A Spectrum of Experiences
Connection and Isolation
Socio-economic Impacts on Host Communities
Churches, Sport and Diaspora Connections
Keeping in Touch with Home
Labour Rights and Power Imbalances
Blacklisting and Standing Down
Underpayment and Elusive Wages
Pastoral Care and Monitoring
Unions: Fighting for Rights … Sometimes
Negotiating Online
Transient Times
Bibliography
9: Home Again
New Wealth, Familiar Patterns
Remittances in Kind: Technology and Consumer Durables
Housing
Education
Business Development
Social Functions and Community Objectives
Family Breakdown?
Labour Losses and Food Security
Skill Losses and Brain Drain
Bringing Skills Home?
Towards Modernity
Bibliography
10: A New Phase: Stepping up a Gear?
New Beginnings
The Northern Australia Worker Pilot Program (NAWPP)
The Pacific Labour Scheme
Familiar Themes of Success and Failure
Towards Permanence?
Bibliography
11: The New Blackbirds?
The New Blackbirds? Plus ça Change …?
An Uneven World?
Precarious Work, Precarious Lives
Wage Theft
Weapons of the Weak
Winning and Losing?
Equity
Economics
Society
Whose Development?
Bibliography
12: Hosts and Guests
Towards Permanency?
Eternal Demand?
The Future PICs: A Kind of Blue
A Strategic Arena
A Widening Sphere?
Bibliography
Bibliography
Index
