Memorandum of Understanding – Steak-holders speak

The Memorandum of Understanding podcast documentary series was formerly separate from Devpolicy Talks. Its back catalogue has now been merged into Devpolicy Talks Season 10.

How does the Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) challenge the conception of what aid is, who works on it, and who benefits from it?

In the first part of the PLS mini-series, we profiled the hard yakka that is the daily grind inside Warrnambool’s meatworks. This episode we leave the factory gates and head out into the community to learn why the PLS is so much more than simple stratagem to fill gaps in Australia’s assembly lines. We cheer from the sidelines during a Timor-Leste versus Vietnam soccer match, dial home to see how the money earned at Midfields is being distributed and spent, celebrate Pedro Lay’s 40th birthday, share fish and chips with a remarkable Fijian woman called Ana, listen to a Timorese choir ring through the pews at local mass, and speak to our very own PLS fixer, Dr Michael Rose from The Development Policy Centre, about opportunities to expand the scheme.

Recommended reading: Read up on the Timorese experience in Warrnambool with a blog piece by Dr Michael Rose and another by East Timorese PLS worker Cornelio Dos Santos.

Memorandum of Understanding production team:

• Host, Gordon Peake
• Producer, Julia Bergin
• Sound Design: Luther Canute

Visual credits: Julito Couto Miranda interviews Dr Michael Rose on the sidelines of a Timor Leste versus Vietnam soccer match. Photo courtesy of MOU.

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre.

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