Security issues in the Indo-Pacific region have dominated commentary about the area but Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa will also have other priorities when she meets Ardern today, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in The Bulletin.

Beyond security concerns  

As the neck-in-neck historic Sāmoan election result came through last April, media outlets here got a bit distracted by the death of Prince Philip. Sāmoa’s first female prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa, was sworn in May last year. Mataʻafa is in New Zealand for the first time since then and will meet with Jacinda Ardern today. No doubt security concerns in the Pacific region will be on the agenda but some recent commentary has had a tone implying Pacific island countries are like kids we left alone with a box of matches. It has distracted from other issues that matter to Mataʻafa and Sāmoa. In a recent press briefing with Australian foreign minister Penny Wong, Mataʻafa herself politely side-eyed the focus on China’s presence in the region.

Climate change a threat to the region

Looking at Mataʻafa’s agenda while she is here and what was discussed with Wong, it’s obvious climate change will be a focus. Recent comments from other Pacific leaders suggest they regard climate change as a bigger threat to the region than geo-political conflict. A report from the V20, a coalition of countries especially vulnerable to climate change, found that climate change wiped out one-fifth of the wealth of poorer countries in the group. Mataʻafa is meeting with a host of ministers including climate change minister James Shaw, foreign affairs minister Nanaia Mahuta and associate minister for immgration Phil Twyford.

Focus on improving conditions for RSE workers

Mataʻafa is also visiting Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) worker accommodation in the Hawkes Bay. RSE workers were a topic of conversation with Australian foreign minister Penny Wong at their meeting in early June. In New Zealand, the Green party has recently called for an overhaul of the scheme after submissions to a select committee inquiry prompted concerns about exploitation. New legislation was tabled in the Sāmoa parliament in April aimed at improving working conditions for seasonal workers in Australia and New Zealand. Writing on fair pay agreements (FPA), Rebecca Macfie reports that FPAs are a way to protect vulnerable Pasifika RSE workers who “can’t possibly engage in effective and fair individual bargaining or collective bargaining under the Employment Relations Act.”

Anti-money laundering law causing problems

There’s another issue that’s been very well covered by Stuff’s Dileepa Fonseka. I don’t know if it will make the agenda for Mataʻafa’s visit but it’s worth mentioning and is related to the importance of RSE workers to the economies of Pacific countries. Remittances, or the transferring of money from here to the Pacific has been made a lot harder because of our anti-money laundering (AML) legislation. Numbers from the World Bank in 2014 show remittances from New Zealand made up more than 15% of Samoa’s GDP. Fonseka writes that critics of our AML legislation say the rules have had little impact on transnational crime and have increased costs for people in the Pacific Islands for whom every extra cent paid in transaction fees matters.