Details of the Samoa Government's new Recognised Seasonal Employment (R.S.E.) scheme policy endorsed by the Cabinet last month are yet to be made public.

The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Labour, Leatinu'u Wayne So'oialo told the Legislative Assembly recently that the new R.S.E. policy endorsed by the Cabinet will go into effect either late last month or early this month and is to be used by the local authorities to kick start the recruitment process. 

However, there has been no information on the new policy either from the Minister or his Ministry, which oversees the Samoa Government's labour mobility programmes targeting both Australian and New Zealand labour markets. Attempts by the Samoa Observer to get an update from Minister Leatinu'u as well as the Ministry were not successful.

The lack of information on the new R.S.E. scheme policy also comes on the back of a major Australian-based seasonal work employer, Linx Employment pulling the plug on participation in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme due to allegations of worker mistreatment. The Australian firm is now under investigation by Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

Over 200 Pacific Island workers including Samoans in both Tasmania and Queensland were affected by the decision of the Tasmanian company to pull out with the seasonal workers now working with DEWR to find ongoing employment and accommodation.

Attempts were also made by this newspaper to contact Minister Leatinu'u and his Ministry for comment on the plight of Samoan workers in Tasmania without success. 

Last month Members of Parliament asked when the Samoa Government will implement the changes in its new R.S.E. policy which will allow district offices to select workers to join the seasonal work programs in either Australia or New Zealand. 

Minister Leatinu'u told the House that there was a delay in implementing the new changes after the review as they are now trying to centralise all the recruitment processes under the helm of the responsible Ministry. 

"The problem is there are a couple of agents out in the villages that have taken up the responsibility of recruiting people for R.S.E. work," he said. "These agents have worked in collaboration with employers in Australia and New Zealand over the years. 

"So we are trying to centralise the process and bring everything back under one umbrella so the Ministry can spearhead the new changes before we start executing the plan for the district office to nominate and select the eligible people for these opportunities. 

"We discovered that this was one of the main reasons why people who were employed and working were able to get through the system and got accepted because they were able to trick these agents. 

"Furthermore, we see that employers want to collaborate with these agents instead of the Government when they look to recruit people. However, once they have trouble with the people they hire, they come running back to the Government and not the agents so those are some of the issues we are working on at the moment."

Leatinu'u then assured the House that the new policies will be ready and implemented soon, saying, "We believe that if we don't address these issues, we will continue to lose more skilled and experienced people to R.S.E. work opportunities. 

"But don't worry, once we address these issues, we will start implementing the new policies either by the end of this month or the beginning of next month."