The Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme is Australia’s program designed to plug the holes in its labour shortages by bringing in workers from the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Island countries to work mainly in the agricultural and meat sectors. And mainly in regional and rural areas of Australia. And those in the scheme can only work in industries that the government deems are facing a labour shortage.
“These are the boundaries that stand and will continue to stand in the way of Solomon Islands’ determination to increase its numbers to 5,000 every year. A target my Prime Minister has set and pronounced on during his first State Visit to Australia in June,” Mr. Robert Sisilo, Solomon Islands High Commissioner to Australia, told the incoming Executive Officer of the Approved Employers of Australia, Ms Cath Cave, when they met last week at the High Commission.
“To meet our target PALM should now include and open up the building and construction industry, education, hospitality and age-care in the urban and metropolitan areas like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane where the demand for semi-skilled and skilled labour in these sectors is huge”, Mr. Sisilo, in no uncertain terms, told Ms Cave when they were discussing the SI-Australia Employers Expo to be held in Honiara on 20 – 22 October 2026.
The 3-day long event will bring together approximately 30 approved employers under the PALM scheme, the Labour Mobility Unit and local stakeholders to strengthen partnerships and expand employment opportunities for Solomon Islanders. It would give employers an opportunity to better understand Solomon Islands and its workforce.
“The Expo will give employers the opportunity to see what we have and an appreciation of what we offer as a country, not only in our existing processes, but also our diversity and the challenges we face. And more importantly how together we can address these challenges so that the PALM scheme is a shared win for all of us”, Mr. Sisilo stressed.
Since joining the PALM Scheme in 2018, Solomon Islands has recorded about 15,000 placements and currently about 5,000 are in Australia. The Expo later this month will reinforce Solomon Islands and the GREAT Government’s commitment to workforce development, job creation and strengthening its labour mobility partnership with Australia.
