About 60 families could be joining their family members working under the PALM scheme in Australia as they were part of the Family Accompaniment Decision Briefing Session.
The Family Accompaniment Pilot Program is an initiative to foster stronger connections and address the social impacts of family separations.
In an interview with fijivillage News following the briefing at Kshatriya Hall, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Employment, Jone Nemani says they were in talks with the Australian Vuvale and thought to come up with strategies because they understand that most workers’ families are left back. Nemani says this is to improve the PALM Scheme and they acknowledge the Australian Government in assisting them in the way forward to strengthen this program.
He says Fiji is one of the first three countries to be part of the program.
30 families from the Central Division while another 30 from the Western Division have shown their interest to be part of the program.
The Permanent Secretary says the selection is not done by the Ministry or Government but by the employer and it is based on the good performance of their better half in Australia.
He says the selection is expected to be confirmed in a month’s time.
