SUSPENSION of registration of new applicants for the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) program and the New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) work schemes will continue in Fiji until further notice.
This was advised by the National Employment Centre (NEC) of the Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations in a statement released this week.
Permanent Secretary of Employment, Maritino Nemani said the suspension was to be uplifted today but the Ministry was still processing a backlog of applications.
“We understand the importance of these labour mobility programs to our Fijian community.
“And we are working diligently to resume new client registrations at the earliest possible,” he said.
The suspension, initially imposed in December last year, was scheduled to be lifted in July but the huge number of applications received by NEC led its board to continue the suspension for another seven months.
In July, Minister for Employment Agni Deo Singh told Parliament that a total of 35,000 applications for the two schemes were pending at NEC.
He said at the time that about 6669 workers had gone through the seasonal worker program in Australia since 2021 and 5000 were still there while in New Zealand, there were 700 Fijian workers with 47 more due to leave to join them in August.
NOTE: This article was first published in the print edition of the Fiji Times dated January 01, 2025.
