A World Bank official says she believes an Australian scheme to provide seasonal employment for Pacific Islanders will prove viable.
Since it started at the beginning of this year few Pacific Islanders have taken up the work opportunities
That has been put down to a lack of flexibility in the scheme, the global downturn and claims of exploitation by some labour contractors.
Dr Manjula Luthria of the World Bank in Sydney, has long championed such schemes as a means of economic advancement.
She says she is very optimistic about what she calls a pre-pilot scheme, which has started in much the same small scale way as the now successful New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme.
"I view this very much in that same spirit of just having got the process started which required a number of institutional settings to fall into place. Those have, the numbers yes, as you said have been small, so about 60 workers, but the intention was always to look upon this as the start of a new scheme with the intention of scaling it up in the near future."
Dr Manjula Luthria of the World Bank in Sydney