Natasha Turia-Moka is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University. Natasha’s research will focus on how Papua New Guinea’s decentralised recruitment process works with best practice regulated temporary migration schemes – Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (Australia) and Recognised Seasonal Employer (New Zealand). Within the broader framework of the migration development nexus under the “triple wins” logic, a political economy analysis of selected case studies in PNG will be compared to better understand the governance arrangements that co-exist in managing labour mobility. Using a mixed methods approach that will allow for a value chain analysis of the selected case studies, her research will involve engagement with various stakeholders from PNG, Australia and New Zealand. Her research has the potential to identify best-practice recruitment method(s) that will support the Government of PNG to achieve its national target of 8,000 workers by 2025.

Natasha has been involved in the implementation and review of PNG’s decentralised recruitment process since the reforms were introduced in 2019 and continues to engage with multilateral stakeholders. She has a Master of International Relations (Monash University, 2011) and supported labour mobility projects with sub-national level governments, World Bank and the Labour Mobility Partnerships.