The Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) of Commerce, Industry and Labour, Pulotu Chu Ling has assured seasonal workers that setbacks brought about by the pandemic would soon be over as the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (P.A.L.M.) scheme is making grounds  in finding solutions.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Pulotu explained that the pandemic's impacts upon seasonal work schemes both in Australia and New Zealand only happened when the pandemic was still fresh. There have been concerns raised by seasonal workers in Australia about the lack of working hours.

"That's what happened during COVID-19 and obviously it happened because a lot of the companies were affected and reduced their working hours for the workers," he said.

"So the Australian companies and government have been trying to find a solution and at this stage, it is slowly getting back to normal.

"Both New Zealand and Australia are now restructuring their programs for seasonal workers, they are now working towards ensuring that all seasonal workers, including Samoan, get a fair amount of working hours."

In 2021, a total of 521 Samoan workers travelled to Australia to work under the P.A.L.M scheme, following Australia's assurance after the pandemic to continue recruiting Samoans to address the rising demand for workers in the Australian horticultural sector.

The Australian High Commissioner to Samoa, Emily Luck, gave assurance about Australia's plans at the time to continue recruiting workers from Samoa.

“Australia will continue to promote the COVID-safe recruitment of Samoan workers to help address critical workforce shortages in rural and regional communities, while providing workers with skills and income to support the economic development of Samoa,” Ms Luck said.

“The hardworking group will gain skills while supporting their families and communities in Samoa.”

Meanwhile, a group of Australian seasonal worker employers earlier this year had put the spotlight on "disruptions" in Samoa's seasonal work policy, which they claim is interrupting business continuity in Australia. 

Steve Burdette, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Approved Employers Australia, at the time said the continued disruption to Samoa's seasonal work programme run by the Samoa Government is impacting their business plans.

"You plan well in advance to get workers in, and having these kinds of disruptions interrupts business continuity and it lets a lot of people down in the process," he said.

Samoa's Cabinet last year suspended the deployment of seasonal workers for the rest of January pending a Cabinet review and an investigation by the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour into concerns and issues raised about the scheme's selection process. 

It was later lifted towards the end of January with Deputy Prime Minister, Tuala Ponifasio Tevaga announcing its resumption using the Ministry's current policies for the rest of February.