Enhancing Regional Migration In The Pacific

Enhancing Opportunities For Regional Migration In The Pacific

The history of the Pacific is a history of migration. Yet modern barriers to migration impede development in the Pacific island countries facing degraded resources, high rates of natural population increase, low-lying geographies, and limited opportunities for international movement through citizenship or preferred visa status.

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) has released its latest briefing paper by Brian Opeskin (Macquarie University) and Therese MacDermott (Macquarie University)* that examines international migration in the Pacific, and argues there should be greater opportunities for the people of Pacific countries to migrate between their home states and the developed states of the Pacific rim.

Derek Brien, PiPP Executive Director, says "the relative success of the seasonal worker scheme in New Zealand serves as an example of how pragmatic migration policies can contribute to the development story of the Pacific. More needs to be done to open up new migration pathways that consider the special needs of some Pacific island countries - notably Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru as well as the Melanesian states of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Facilitating choice migration is not a panacea for all ills, but does offer further options to tackle the challenges posed by high rates of population growth, youth unemployment, rapid urbanisation, resource depletion and climate change. It would also alleviate the prospect of forced migration due to rising sea levels".

The briefing paper suggests that creating more permeable borders is an important means of redressing past and current injustices, expanding opportunities for human development, and fostering stronger regional relations.

Both the United States and New Zealand have been reasonably generous in facilitating migration from Micronesia and Polynesia. It is Australia that stands out as the Pacific neighbour with the greatest capacity to develop new migration streams that recognise Australia’s history as a colonising power, its self-interest in promoting regional security, and the special needs of some Pacific island countries. The seasonal worker scheme announced in 2008 takes a small but valuable step along this path.

Key messages from the briefing paper include:

• Natural resources are distributed very unevenly across the Pacific, with some states being substantially under-endowed in terms of their capacity to carry their human populations.

• Many Pacific populations continue to experience high rates of natural increase and high net growth, except where the safety valve of immigration relieves the population pressure.

• There has been significant depletion and degradation of natural resources in some Pacific countries due to population pressures and over-exploitation.

• Climate change and rising sea levels threaten to cast some Pacific island states as the first victims of a global problem that is not of their making.

• The history of Pacific colonisation has been capricious and has left some Pacific islanders with liberal access to economic opportunities in developed states through migration, while others have none.

• Preferential visa quotas and seasonal worker schemes go some way towards satisfying the needs of Pacific islanders but there is scope for expanding the channels of access to broaden the scope of Pacific migration.

• Developed states should assist developing states of the Pacific by promoting controlled migration, not only because it is in their self interest to do so but because it is an effective means of giving development assistance and fostering stronger regional relations.

Mr Brien further suggests that "as we now live in a world where travel and communication technology makes the exchange of people and skills easier and more affordable than ever, it is timely to revisit migration policies in the context of national development strategies".

Briefing Paper: Resources, population and migration in the Pacific

*This briefing paper is an abridged version of the paper titled ‘Resources, population and migration in the Pacific: Connecting islands and rim’ by Brian Opeskin (Macquarie University) and Therese MacDermott (Macquarie University) first published in Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 50, No. 3, December 2009 ISSN 1360-7456, pp353-373. It is presented as a means of stimulating further thought on how migration can be cultivated alongside other policies to achieve sustainable development in small island Pacific states.

ENDS

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