A total of 78 Fijian families have successfully settled in Australia under the Family Accompaniment Visa created to minimise the negative social impacts of family separation under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme.
This was confirmed by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) First Assistant Secretary Jan Hutton, who also heads Australia’s labour mobility, skills and education support in the Pacific.
“It’s already proving to be so successful,” Ms Hutton said.
“We have 78 Fijian families already in Australia. Every single family has been able to enrol successfully in our medicare system. All the kids are in school and thriving, and every spouse who wanted to find employment has been able to find employment,” she said.
Ms Hutton said not all Pacific countries under the scheme had chosen to participate in the pilot.
“Fiji has. There’s around hundred that are going to be in Australia that is aimed at the long-term cohort. It is a pilot so we will have to monitor and evaluate it. We are also looking to support families who stay behind, back home.”
Ms Hutton said she had received a copy of a letter sent to a family that had recently settled in Toowoomba, Queensland.
“It was from the school principal to the parents of this family, saying how delighted they were to have their children in this local school and how they had already enriched the culture of that school and the school had been able to secure additional resourcing.”
She said reintegration was also a priority.
“Coming back home can be just as challenging — reestablishing family and community connections but also making sure that the four-year investment has been worthwhile, not just through the money they’ve saved in that four years, but actually being home and putting those skills to use here back home.”
