At Australian Parliament House today, Welcoming Australia hosts a PALM Futures Forum: Community-centred visa reform.
Exploitation and poor living conditions have led an estimated 7,000 people to walk away from the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme. Over 30,000 people from Pacific Island nations and Timor Leste hold PALM visas, which allow them to work in Australia on a temporary basis, but widespread “disengagement” means thousands are left to survive in Australia without a formal visa.
Both the UN’s Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and the NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner have warned that this situation poses a risk of modern slavery, but the Commonwealth Government has done little to address this situation.
The PALM Futures Forum will bring together members of the Mayoral Alliance for the Pacific, key community members, employers, unions, researchers, PALM stakeholders and Parliamentary representatives to call on the Federal Government for visa reform that will give workers genuine freedom to change employers, improve access to healthcare, and expand family inclusion-building fairer, stronger regional communities.
Exploring how the PALM scheme operates in practice, the PALM Forum brings together key stakeholders to discuss the benefits of the scheme, where structural challenges remain and key recommendations for improvement to deliver better outcomes for communities, employers, and workers.
Event and Media details:
11.00am PALM Futures Forum, Enid Lyons Alcove, Australian Parliament House:
Keynote speaker: Peter Mares, independent writer and researcher and the author of Improving PALM, a detailed narrative report on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme just published by the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute.
Panel discussion: Hosted by Ken Dachi, Welcoming Workplaces Coordinator, Welcoming Australia in conversation with employers, unions, community, researchers and Mayors
12.30pm: Media Conference, Mural Hall, Australian Parliament House
Quotes attributable to Aleem Ali, CEO Welcoming Australia:
“Fair work should mean exactly that. Yet the PALM Scheme falls short for people from the Pacific working in our farms, factories and aged care homes.”
“The PALM Futures Forum brings together workers, unions, employers, community members, researchers and policymakers to deliver better outcomes for everyone. The Forum seeks to shift the “Pacific Family” rhetoric into action and ensure that Pacific workers can access the same rights as their Australian colleagues.”
“Through the Mayoral Alliance for the Pacific, we’ve brought together 20 Mayors and regional councils who are grappling with the everyday benefits and challenges of the PALM Scheme. Together, we are urging the Federal Government to modernise visa conditions so workers have genuine mobility, better healthcare access, and stronger pathways for family inclusion.”
About us:
The Mayoral Alliance for the Pacific (MAP), co-founded by Welcoming Australia and Leeton Shire Council, aims to equip local councils to engage more effectively in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme and deliver better outcomes for communities, employers, and workers. https://welcoming.org.au/initiatives/mayoral-alliance-for-the-pacific/
Welcoming Australia is a non-partisan movement and organisation committed to cultivating a culture of welcome and advancing an Australia where people of all backgrounds have equal opportunity to belong, contribute and thrive. www.welcoming.org.au
Improving PALM: Drawing on research and lived experience, this Narrative explores how the PALM scheme operates in practice, where it has delivered real benefits, and where structural challenges remain. It offers a constructive resource for reflection and discussion across policy, industry and community settings. https://scanloninstitute.org.au/publications/narratives/improving-palm-the-pacific-australia-labour-mobility-scheme/
Contact details:
Kate Leaney
Community Partnerships and Communications Manager
Welcoming Australia
0411 712 930
[email protected]
Mengting Cao
Media, Communications and Events Officer
Welcoming Australia
0412 563 336
[email protected]
