PALM worker deaths increase fourfold amid expanding scheme and increasing reliance on participants

Twenty-nine people in the Pacific Labour Mobility Scheme have died in the last financial year, making it the deadliest period in the history of the expanding scheme, according to government data. "Of the 29 PALM scheme worker deaths in 2022-23, one occurred at the workplace and is under investigation by the relevant workplace safety authority," DEWR said in response to questions from ABC. An increasing reliance on Pacific workers Polling in a new report from the Australia Institute found 68 per cent of Australians agreed PALM visa holders should have access to Medicare while in Australia. Dr Alexia Adhikari, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Australia Institute and one of the report's authors, said Australia should be "doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety" of PALM visa participants. It also found an increasing reliance on Pacific workers, with 23 per cent of the meat and meat product manufacturing industry workforce and 10 per cent of the agriculture workforce being PALM scheme participants.