KEY POINTS:
Australia has been urged to follow New Zealand's example by creating special work visas for Pacific Islanders as part of a new strategy to improve relations with the region.
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute task force has also told the Government it should consider recruiting Islanders for its
recruit-starved defence force, as Britain does with Fijians.
The recommendations were drawn up by a panel of distinguished Australians for a new Labor Government that has promised a fresh start for the nation in the Pacific.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants to shift emphasis, and pledged to work closely with New Zealand when he met counterpart Helen Clark in Canberra for their first official talks.
The task force's report said Australia had an historic opportunity to enter into an engagement with the Pacific and to make a positive difference to the region's development, the life chances of islanders, and its own security.
"The near-term goal should focus on the interchange of people between Australia and its Pacific neighbours, facilitating regional integration, improving opportunities for educating, achieving better health, improving infrastructure in transport, power and communications, encouraging investment and ensuring that fisheries are protected and their economic returns made sustainable," it said.
The report said a key strategy should be permits to allow islanders to work in seasonal jobs in Australia, a move regularly sought by Island governments but so far denied by Canberra.
Island nations saw seasonal work permits as wholly consistent with regional economic integration and free-trade agreements long sought by Australia.
The nation would gain from finding workers for sectors suffering critical labour shortages, while Pacific communities would benefit from remittances sent home from Australia.
Remittances were major sources of national income in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati and Tuvalu, but the people of the poorest Pacific states - PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu - had comparatively little opportunity to work abroad.
A trial work permit scheme had been urged by a Senate committee in 2003, and by the World Bank three years later.
"Australia should take early steps to follow New Zealand's lead in establishing a programme that allows Pacific Islanders to be given priority in gaining seasonal work opportunities in horticulture and viticulture," the report said.
The report said that Canberra should also consider recruiting Pacific Islanders into its Defence Force, as Britain recruits Fijians for its Army.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has said that shortages in defence manpower are reaching crisis point.
"The ADF is struggling to find recruits and Pacific Islanders are keen to serve," the report said.
"One approach might be to recruit experienced Fijians and Papua New Guineans into the ADF for three to four years, with the possibility of citizenship on completion of their service."