The National Employment Centre (NEC), part of the Ministry of Employment, Productivity, and Workplace Relations, is currently reviewing applications that were submitted in 2021. Maritino Nemani, the permanent secretary, noted during a discussion on the 2022 Audit Report on the General Administration Sector that new registrations have been halted due to nearly 30,000 pending applications from 2020.
Nemani explained that they are in the process of clearing the backlog by filtering through previous registrations. The NEC has also decided to extend the registration period into next year to accommodate these efforts.
Under the Pacific Labour Mobility scheme and the Regional Seasonal Employment (RSE) program, employers have the discretion to select candidates for job roles. This includes various sectors such as caregiving, agriculture, meat processing, abattoir work, and hospitality. Employers from Australia conduct interviews to choose the individuals they wish to hire, while the NEC’s role is to facilitate this process.
For caregiving positions, training is provided by the Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC), which also accredits workers looking to work overseas. Ultimately, the hiring decision lies with the employers in Australia.