On the same day new revelations of mistreatment of seasonal Pacific workers in New Zealand were aired, Jacinda Ardern's government has announced the expansion of the scheme with new safeguards.
New Zealand will recruit 19,000 workers from nine Pacific countries for the upcoming season, an increase of 3000 from last year.
Targeted towards planting, harvesting, packing and pruning jobs, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the scheme's biggest expansion in a decade would ease skills shortages in viticulture and horticultural sectors.
"We know that there are acute workforce pressures on those sectors at the moment that will only intensify further come summer," she said.
Unemployment in New Zealand remains near record low levels - 3.3 per cent last month - exposing industries reliant on low-wage labour.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood said workers in the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme would now be entitled to sick leave, minimum hours and a minimum hourly wage of $NZ22.10 ($A19.36), just above the national minimum wage of $NZ21.20 ($A18.57).
"The wellbeing of RSE workers is a priority for us," he said.
The scheme is notorious for rorts in New Zealand, with Kiwi news outlet Stuff revealing appalling living conditions offered to workers.
Last month, it revealed horticulture workers in Blenheim were asked to sleep six to a room, offered a single chest of drawers and charged $NZ150 ($A131) in weekly rent.
Sick workers were left unpaid and denied medical care, and were docked pay for their transport to work even when they were not working.
Some workers who found the conditions intolerable were unable to leave as they were indebted to employers for flights, work uniforms or equipment.
On Tuesday, a fresh Stuff investigation revealed workers in Rotorua were being housed at a school camp, up to seven a room, with two washing machines for 160 people.
"Those who have come before are shocked at where they are now living," a Samoan worker said.
Mr Wood said the government may trial a "roving workplace rep" to report back on conditions.
"It is unacceptable for any migrant to be exploited ... I won't take a backward step in the work we're doing to stamp out exploitation," he said.
While Australia is reforming its Pacific labour program to allow workers to bring their partners or families, New Zealand has no plans to follow.
Ms Ardern previously signalled a review of seasonal labour workers, saying Pacific leaders were concerned they were luring away much-needed labour.
"Some have said as we re-open (borders from COVID-19), we want to be careful that we've got the workforce we need," Ms Ardern said.
"The RSE scheme was designed to be beneficial for them.
"We just have to make sure in the selection process of which workers were coming, it's those more inclined to be potentially unemployed in their home country, rather than necessarily skilled individuals that they may need to remain."
Workers in New Zealand's RSE program come from Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, with per-country capss.
