According to the Fijian government, more than 15,000 Fijians are employed through labour mobility schemes in Australia and New Zealand. Photo: Facebook / Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme
The head of the Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS) says some of the blame for the misbehaviour of seasonal workers must be borne by the government for failing to adequately prepare people to work and live abroad.
The comments follow Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka calling the behaviour of some Fijian seasonal workers "embarrassing" during a news conference last week with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
FCOSS executive director Vani Catanasiga said she was disappointed by Rabuka's comment.
"It undermines [workers] dignity, and it's clear the PM is not cognisant of other factors that may be occurring that the workers have to deal with."
Catanasiga said she had heard of incidents of misbehaviour, but many problems stem from a lack of preparation in the country.
"Preparation, orientation, is supposed to happen in country. So, if he's pointing out that he's embarrassed, then I think the gap then lies in the work that we do in country."
According to the Fijian government, more than 15,000 Fijians are employed through labour mobility schemes in Australia and New Zealand.
The number of Pacific workers under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme and the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme continues to rise.
According to Australia's Department of Home Affairs, Fiji has become the biggest supplier of workers through the PALM - up to 6379 after being at just 266 in 2019.
Catanasiga said there is often difficulty with adjusting to a new culture.
"Some of them don't have access to health insurance. There's confusion about deductions to their pay, you know, just the difficulties that many Fijian workers face when they are in a different country."
Rabuka said "most of the problems we hear are problems caused by our workers in Australia, not by the employers and not by the Australian government".
Concern for workers' wellbeing has been a long-standing issue for both the PALM and RSE schemes.
In 2022, New Zealand' equal opportunities commissioner said the treatment of some Pacific workers on the RSE scheme borders on modern day slavery.
Last month, the United Nations' top slavery expert called on the Australian government to do more to protect the rights of Pacific seasonal workers.
A UNICEF report last year found regional employment schemes can create family tensions and lead to marital breakdowns in sending countries.
However, Rabuka said most workers have positive experiences in seasonal employment, which had been the case for some of his own family members.
"They have been very responsible to their families here, as well as their employers in Australia," he said.
"They speak glowingly of their employer and their neighbourhood where they are employed. So let us not take those individual cases to thump the whole issue."
Marles said his government is listening to feedback from Fijians who had taken part in the PALM scheme.
"That means both in terms of the experiences that people are having, what economic wealth they're able to bring home, but also making sure that the numbers of people coming are appropriate in the context of the domestic economy here in Fiji.
"So we will continue to both monitor the experience of those who are working in Australia, but also work with the Fijian Government to make sure that this is a programme delivering for both of our nations."
RNZ Pacific has reached out to Rabuka's office for comment.
