Abstract:
“Triple Win” refers to the apparently beneficial development outcomes from temporary migrant worker programs for migrants, the sending country, and the receiving country. Traditionally international migration has been simplistically viewed as a process which results from the failure of development. With renewed interest migration has become an integral part of development by connecting the individual and their labour as valuable units of analysis in the world‟s political economy. However, the shift by receiving countries from permanent migrants towards temporary work migrants is contested. This study attempts to discover the core factors that many scholars believe justify the commodification of the migrant worker. This thesis assesses the impact official discourse within the New Zealand parliament has on the relationship between the employer and the migrant worker under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme. Nationalism‟s role is examined in relation to state categories that institute the differential inclusion of Pacific Island migrants within the New Zealand work force. This study limits its analysis to government actors‟ official discourse during the New Zealand parliamentary Question and Answer period focused on the RSE scheme. To fully understand the development of the nation-state category of a temporary migrant, the thesis evaluates the migration history of New Zealand. The discussion illustrates that the market led economy promotes the use of labour as a commodity and nationalism is a tool used to regulate the temporary migration of the Pacific Island migrant worker to benefit the New Zealand employers. This thesis is part of a growing body of research that attempts to de-naturalize the discriminatory nature of national border control against the free movement of people. In using a largely untapped source of official parliamentary discourse on RSE scheme, this project will contribute to future research on similar topics.
