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This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.
I've added on the following to the wikipage: Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme
PALM workers are estimated to contribute approximately $184 million in taxes annually to the Australian government. This amount represents one-fifth of the $920 million that Australia has provided in support to participating Pacific nations this year.[19] itsPri (talk) 01:50, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If you've added something it wouldn't have been a proposal...while I do not have any issue with this edit it is best that you wait for a response from another neutral editor for the future for their go ahead rather than you editing then informing later. Thanks. ManducatingMouser (talk) 07:52, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
suggest adding #,### commas to table w/ number of workers >1,000 and to "In April 2025 it was reported that 7000 PALM scheme workers..." in criticism section
Done
not really a suggestion since I'm kind of conflicted myself, but did you consider wiki-linking to the participating Pacific Island countries? I realize it would create a block of links since they're first mentioned in a list, but I also think some readers may not be familiar with all of those countries.
Done. I had originally wikilinked them and at some point took the links out based on the guidance that don't usually wikilink countries. But I agree with you that in this case it does make sense to link them, given that they're mostly very small countries that some readers may not be familiar with.
recommend defining PALM abbreviation in parentheses sometime before first use in lede
Done
"But the scheme has been criticised for facilitating exploitation of workers and for its rate of deaths and injuries." - suggest rephrase to "However, the scheme has faced criticism for alleged worker exploitation and for its rate of deaths and injuries."
"In 2008 the predecessor of the PALM scheme, the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme, began as a pilot program to allow unskilled and low-skilled workers from Pacific island countries to work in the Australian agricultural sector." suggest rephrase to "In 2008, the predecessor of the PALM scheme—the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme—was launched to allow unskilled and low-skilled workers from Pacific island countries to work in Australia’s agricultural sector."
Done
"The pilot had the dual aims of improving Australia's relations with Pacific nations, and addressing a shortage of seasonal labour—estimated to be a gap of 22,000 workers by the National Federation of Farmers." suggest rephrase to "The pilot aimed to both strengthen Australia’s relations with Pacific nations and address a seasonal labour shortage— estimated at 22,000 workers by the National Farmers’ Federation."
Done
"But a final evaluation report gave a largely positive assessment of the pilot scheme, finding that despite its limited uptake, it had provided benefits to participants and had helped Australian agricultural employers to meet their demand for labour." suggest rephrase to "A final evaluation report gave a largely positive assessment of the Australian pilot scheme, finding that despite its limited uptake, it had provided benefits to participants and had helped agricultural employers meet their demand for labour." - I don't think you need 'but' since it's not really disagreeing with the previous sentence, and I would clarify that this is referring to Australian scheme since NZ scheme is discussed in sentence right before it
Done
"The number of PALM workers in Australia grew significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which many other populations of temporary workers were barred from entry to the country." suggest rephrase to "The number of PALM workers in Australia grew significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most other temporary worker groups were barred from entering the country."
recommend wiki-link to remittance for first mention outside of lede
Done
"Many workers from Pacific island countries are able to earn far more in Australia through participation in the PALM scheme than they would be able to earn in their home countries and often send remittances home to their families." suggest rephrase to "Many Pacific island workers can earn substantially more in Australia through the PALM scheme and often remit a portion of their income to support their families in their home countries."
Done
"Despite its beginnings as an agricultural labour scheme, the PALM scheme has been progressively expanded into new sectors beyond agriculture since its introduction, including meat processing, aged care, hospitality and retail." suggest rephrase to "Despite beginning as an agricultural labour scheme, the PALM scheme has been progressively expanded into other sectors, including meat processing, aged care, hospitality and retail."
Done
"Beginning in 2023, concerns began to be raised that PALM workers were taking advantage of a backlog in asylum applications by absconding from their employers and lodging asylum applications that would allow them to live and work in Australia for several years on bridging visas until their applications were decided." suggest rephrase to "Beginning in 2023, concerns were raised that some PALM workers were taking advantage of the asylum application backlog by leaving their employers and lodging asylum applications, allowing them to remain and work in the country on bridging visas while their claims were processed."
Done
I'm not sure exactly how to rephrase "Professor Stephen Howes of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University has labelled many of these applications "bogus", pointing out that asylum applications from PALM countries, with the exception of Papua New Guinea, are almost never granted.", but I do find this bit slightly confusing. If I hadn't checked out the source, I'm not sure I would understand if he is saying that the PALM workers lodging asylum applications are doing something 'bogus', or if the criticism about them absconding is?
Rephrased to make clear that he is calling the asylum claims bogus, hopefully that's clearer?
"The PALM scheme has been criticised for tying participating workers to a single sponsoring employer, with limited ability to switch to a new employer." suggest rephrase to "The PALM scheme has been criticised for tying workers to a single sponsoring employer, limiting their ability to change jobs."
Done
"Scholars and advocates have argued that this inability to change employers enables exploitation and makes it more difficult for workers to speak up about wage theft and poor working conditions." suggest rephrase to "Scholars and advocates have argued that this enables exploitation by making it more difficult for workers to speak up about wage theft and poor working conditions." - I think subject ('this') is clear from previous sentence, reducing some repetition
Done
"Researchers and physicians have also reported that women participating in the PALM scheme who become pregnant often seek abortions in order to remain in Australia and to comply with their visa conditions." suggest removing "in order"
only possible RS concern is Dev Policy Blog. based on their website they have editorial standards and affiliation w/ Australian National University (+ the individual contributors have credentials) - so I think it's fair to have evaluated this as an RS, but just noting as 'blog' label stands out
Ref layout looks good, appreciate shortened footnotes to refer to multiple page #s of same source without duplicating entire ref.
Not mandatory, but could wiki-link to publication names in refs where appropriate, i.e. to The Guardian. Article would also benefit from archive links for future-proofing.
Added wikilinks to publications in refs, and queued up an IABot run
Earwig gives 12.3% as closest match, and those fragments all look appropriate; no CV concerns.
"The number of participants grew from about 6,000 in 2019 to almost 35,000 at the beginning of 2024." - [11] Y
"But participation in the scheme fell by 24% between July 2023 and July 2024, in large part due to the return of other populations of temporary workers." - [10] Y
"52% were working in farming, 39% were working in meat processing and 6% were working in accommodation and care." - [16] Y
"Some Pacific island countries are highly reliant on these remittances; in 2022, Samoa had the world's second highest level of remittance income as a percentage of GDP at 34%." - [23] ? source says 33.61%, but whole-number rounding appears consistent throughout the article so I think this is reasonable. Only concern is first clause ("highly reliant" in wiki-voice comes across as a little synthy), could use a slight-rework
Good catch, you're absolutely right — changed this to "take in a significant sum through remittances"
Y
"The rate of deaths among PALM scheme workers was described as "staggering" by a former deputy secretary of the Australian Department of Immigration in 2025." - [8] Y
" In August 2024, representatives of the Fijian government announced plans to visit Australia to investigate working conditions after a Fijian woman died of a brain tumour while working at an Australian abattoir..." - [48] Y
Overall excellent; I was not familiar with this specific scheme before beginning GA review and I feel I have a solid understanding of it now. Just a few suggestions:
Provide more context for the 2008 pilot scheme's introduction - i.e. what the labor situation was like before being introduced, which presumably motivated the pilot?
Good idea — I hadn't really thought to go digging through those older news sources, but I've added a bit of what I could find about the announcement of the original pilot
Y
Recommend mentioning NZ's RSE program; they are often discussed jointly due to their similarities. RSE appears to have been introduced first- did it inspire or influence PALM at all?
I couldn't find too much, but added a mention
Y
I think the "2024 reforms that required PALM scheme workers to be offered at least 30 hours of work per week..." could use some more context. From that section, I'm not 100% clear about the big picture i.e. why the reform was introduced.
Done, hopefully that's clearer?
yes! great context, ty Y
no unnecessary detours, stays on topic throughout, follows summary-style.
no indications of original research, article summarizes what the sources say
Article currently leans heavily towards criticism by weight - with a substantial stand-alone section + operations section also containing some implicit criticism. If sourcing is available, it may be better balanced by Australian government response to these criticisms, or more detail from proponents of the program (either in Australia or guest worker home countries).
Yeah this is a tough one. There's a lot that's really good about the program, but the secondary sourcing just skews very, very heavily towards the negatives. I've tried to incorporate more about some of the program's benefits in the "Operation" section, but there's not too much more sourcing that goes into detail about the positives of the program
That makes sense! I looked around for positive reception and didn't find any additional sources, so fwiw I agree with your assessment. I do think your re-work reads more neutrally.Y
Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Cited: - For the ALT0 hook, the source states "nearly 33% of all meat processing workers", whereas the article states "33% of its meat processing workforce" and the hook states "one in three Australian meat processing ...". Please update ALT0 and the article to accurately reflect the usage of nearly in the source.
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source says 33.61%, but whole-number rounding appears consistent throughout the article so I think this is reasonable. Only concern is first clause ("highly reliant" in wiki-voice comes across as a little synthy), could use a slight-rework
- For the ALT0 hook, the source states "nearly 33% of all meat processing workers", whereas the article states "33% of its meat processing workforce" and the hook states "one in three Australian meat processing ...". Please update ALT0 and the article to accurately reflect the usage of nearly in the source.
@MCE89:, if you can update the article and ALT0 to more accurately follow the source in it's usage of the term nearly I'll approve this. TarnishedPathtalk 07:08, 3 November 2025 (UTC)
Approved with a preference for ALT1. TarnishedPathtalk 07:13, 3 November 2025 (UTC)