The regional immigration reality that Australian politicians are overlooking

Haloti Kailahi, president of the Pacific Islands Council of Northern Territory, said incredible amounts of paperwork, four-year employment terms and continued isolation from family members (who are ineligible to join the workers) were “significant roadblocks” that were straining came to terms with the dire need for skills and worker retention in remote areas.

Ultimately, Mr Kailahi said, migration policies have undermined employment goals and undermined a highly capable, culturally appropriate workforce in the Pacific. “I take care of remote communities,” he said. “The attrition of people coming off the highway is so horrific. If you look at people from the Pacific Islands, they are a perfect match, but they are destined to fail.”

The categorization of PALM workers as low-skilled does not take into account their far superior intercultural and multilingual skills, which are desperately needed in remote places, especially in indigenous communities, Mr Kailahi said. This, he said, is the result of migration policies emanating from the ‘Canberra bubble’, rather than the regions hiring migrant workers.

In short, he said, the needs of both communities and migrants are routinely overlooked.

For Sinuti Leafu Moli, 35, a PALM employee based in Alice Springs, the reasons for leaving her parents, partner and five children behind in Samoa were purely economic: “At home, no matter how good your job is, or your position, money is a problem.”

She came to the Northern Territory in 2021 to work at a Double Tree Hilton hotel, where she was quickly promoted from food and beverage attendant to purchasing and finance manager. Although the work was good, Ms. Moli said, she missed her home terribly and was often lonely and scared living so far from her family.