DPA Discussion Papers
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/292044
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Browsing DPA Discussion Papers by Subject "Australia"
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Item Open Access Lending a fist? Australia's new interventionism in the Southwest Pacific(Canberra, ACT: State, Society and Governance in Melanesia (SSGM) Program, The Australian National University, 2004) Dinnen, Sinclair[Conclusion]: In conclusion, Canberras renewed engagement with its Pacific neighbours is a welcome and timely development. A major window of opportunity has opened. There is a significant role for external assistance in helping address many of the difficulties experienced in parts of the region. The success to date of the Australian-led intervention in the Solomon Islands provides ample evidence of what can be achieved. At the same time, assistance needs to be grounded in a thorough understanding of the socio-economic and political complexities of the recipient countries. Outstanding challenges of governance require sustained engagement and are not susceptible to quick or easy solutions. Many aspects of the fragility of the postcolonial states in the Solomon Islands and PNG reflect their particular histories and the weakness of their articulation with their domestic societies. Current problems cannot simply be attributed to the mendacity of a handful of incompetent or corrupt leaders. Nor can they be resolved through an exclusive focus on strengthening the principal institutions of state. Non-state resources also need to be acknowledged and, where appropriate, mobilised in the larger processes of building state and nation. This requires that greater weight be given to local circumstances, knowledge and expertise. The most difficult challenge of all remains that of long-term sustainability.Item Open Access Managing Worker Wellbeing during COVID-19: Pacific Seasonal Workers in Australia and New Zealand(Canberra, ACT: Dept. of Pacific Affairs, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, 2022-07-26) Bailey, Rochelle-Lee; Bedford, CharlotteThe onset of the COVID-19 pandemic early in 2020 and associated border closures worldwide were accompanied by unprecedented disruptions in the flows of temporary labour between sending and destination countries. As with elsewhere in the world, in the Pacific region, countries including Australia and New Zealand closed their international borders, bringing an abrupt end to existing patterns of mobility. Measures such as border closures, quarantine and travel restrictions enacted by countries to control COVID-19 transmission disrupted transport networks and people’s ability to move. For some migrant workers, border closures meant they were unable to enter a destination country for work. For others, travel restrictions meant they were stuck in a host country and unable to return home. The implications for migrant workers and their families have been significant, as many rely on incomes earned overseas and remittances to support livelihoods at home (Moroz et al. 2020). This paper focuses on the disruptions to the flows of seasonal labour between Pacific island countries (and Timor-Leste) and Australia and New Zealand under their respective seasonal work schemes during 2020 and the first half of 2021. New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, introduced in 2007, and Australia’s Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP), implemented in 2012, allow workers from eligible Pacific island countries to enter each year for short-term seasonal work, mainly in horticulture.Item Open Access Political status and development: the implications for Australian foreign policy towards the Pacific Islands(Canberra, ACT: State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program (SSGM), School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, College of Asia & the Pacific, The Australian National University, 2013) Firth, Stewart"Nine in every 10 Pacific islanders live in the independent countries of the region — Fiji, Kiribati,Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The remaining tenth — almost a million people in all — live in the territories and freely associated states, where formal connections with a metropolitan state offer access to its resources and opportunities. In different ways, and with different levels of devolution of power to local governments, eight of the Pacific island entities in the Pacific community are territories of external states, and a further five Pacific island entities are freely associated with an external state." Page 1.