Lindy’s doctoral research aims to understand the nature of violence taking place against women working in Australia with the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, and to identify best practice approaches to prevent and respond to this violence.
Pacific workers contribute to the Australian economy and food supply chains, as well as the economies of the ten countries that participate in the PALM scheme: Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Sāmoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. As at May 2025 there were 31,460 PALM scheme participants in Australia, mostly in agriculture and meat processing jobs.
Research has found that there have been incidences of sexual violence and intimate partner violence perpetrated against female PALM scheme workers, however there is a lack of published data regarding how prevalent the issues are. The situation for PALM scheme workers can be precarious due to the temporary nature of their visas, reliance on their employer for their job and visa, and the barriers they face in accessing services.
The findings from this project will assist Australian governments at all levels to better understand sexual violence and intimate partner violence perpetrated against PALM scheme participants, and to strengthen prevention and response mechanisms.