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New Zealand has adopted such a scheme and the ALP is prepared to explore the idea,but the Prime Minister, John Howard, has ruled it out.
In Sydney yesterday, Mr Zoellick told the Herald in an interview: "Labour mobilityis absolutely critical to the long-term development of the South Pacific.
"I don't know about Australia's visa and immigration rules but labour mobility willbe important for remittances and skills" for South Pacific countries.
The World Bank, whose charter is the eradication of poverty, lends about $US24billion ($28 billion) in concessional finance to poor countries each year.
Mr Zoellick, formerly the US trade representative and also a former deputy secretaryof state in the Bush Administration, is in Australia for a meeting today of thefinance ministers of Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum countries.
He said that he also wanted to explore with Australia the options for workingco-operatively in helping the development of the South Pacific states.
The subject of failing and fragile states was a key area of concern for the bank, hesaid, and "a strong interest for Australia".
Mr Zoellick said that failing states "are dangerous to their neighbours". Henominated Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Cambodia as fragile states: "And franklythe development community has struggled with how to deal with these countries," hesaid.
Australia has extended a de facto security guarantee to the South Pacific, sendingpolice and troops to the Solomon Islands and East Timor, but the economic prospectsfor the region are grim.
In a report published in August last year, the World Bank recommended guest workerschemes as an important way of creating economic futures for the South Pacificstates.
New Zealand acted on the report to create a scheme that allows guest workers fromthe Pacific stays of between seven and nine months.
The author of the report, Dr Manjula Luthria, said last night that "it's early days,but so far it's working reasonably well".
She said guest worker programs sent vital streams of money to the Pacific states asworkers sent remittances home, constituting about 30 per cent of GDP in Tonga andSamoa, according to official figures, and perhaps double this proportion in reality.
She said that the programs were also critical in creating a skills base and abetter-informed citizenry. "The best and the brightest were leaving already, and therest were trapped there."
She said the Government had valid concerns, including the possibilities ofoverstaying and of exploitation of Pacific workers, but that a scheme could bedesigned to minimise these.
Much of rural Australia is clamouring for casual labour.
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, said last night: "I think itis inequitable that there are lots of backpacker visas - mainly for middle-classkids from Europe - to do fruit picking and other work, but there are notopportunities for people from Pacific islands."
--Peter Hartcher Political Editor Sydney Morning Herald
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