Papua New Guinean workers taking part in Australia's Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme are building skills, earning income and supporting families back home, according to figures released by the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby.
As of July 2026, 2,705 Papua New Guineans are employed in Australia through the scheme, which connects Pacific workers with Australian employers facing labour shortages. Since 2022, PNG workers have sent home an estimated PGK236 million in remittances, funds that have gone towards housing, school fees, healthcare, small businesses and community projects across the country.
The impact of those earnings is being felt at a grassroots level, with workers using their income to renovate family homes, open trade stores, support their children's education and create jobs within their own communities.
According to the High Commission, the scheme continues to deepen the relationship between Papua New Guinea and Australia, offering pathways to skills development, employment and what officials describe as shared prosperity between the two nations.
The PALM scheme has become one of the more visible mechanisms of labour mobility cooperation in the Pacific, allowing workers from PNG and other Pacific nations to take up short and long-term positions in Australian industries including agriculture, hospitality and aged care.