Like clockwork every payday, seasonal worker John Firiam sends money to his wife and five-year-old daughter in Vanuatu.
The 35-year-old has worked at a Western Sydney butcher for more than a year under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, and it is even more important for him to send them money now after Vanuatu was hit by twin cyclones about two weeks ago.
"Since the cyclones, I have sent money three times now," Mr Firiam said.
He hoped the extra money would help his subsistence-farming family, whose home and vegetable garden on Pentecost Island — about 200 kilometres from the capital, Port Vila — was severely damaged.
According to World Bank estimates, 21 per cent of Vanuatu's GDP came from remittances in 2021.
Mr Firiam is part of the largest pool of seasonal workers in Australia, many of whom have sent remittances back home in the aftermath of the disaster.
With phone lines down across parts of the country, he has not spoken to his wife but has relayed messages to her through his brother, who lives in the capital.
"My family, they are safe, but I never talk [directly] to my family, because the network is down," Mr Firiam said.
Mr Firiam had been sending the money to a shop owner friend in the city, who then ferried the cash to his wife and daughter's island.
However, he said that his wife and daughter had just arrived in a village near Port Vila, where they were staying with family, which would make sending them money easier.
Vanuatu cops exorbitant remittance fees
Sending money from Australia to the Pacific is a costly exercise.
The percentage of fees differs from country to country but the Pacific region is known for having the highest in the world.
"The average cost of sending remittances to Vanuatu is 11 per cent, so that is pretty high; to give you a few comparisons, Tonga, and Samoa are just below 10 per cent," Professor Stephen Howes, director of the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University, said.
"Fiji is about the cheapest in the Pacific, but it is still significant at 6.7 per cent."
Professor Howes said the worldwide average was "about 6 per cent" and there had been a goal "to reduce that to 5 or as much as 3 per cent".
He blamed a lack of competition in the banking sector for this, but said there was some respite in sight, with more and cheaper competitors entering the market.
"Western Union is the most popular option and it is very accessible both within Australia and back [in the Pacific Islands]," he said.
Other banks also do overseas transfers, "but it is not the only method, there are an increasing number of digital options to transfer funds".
However, he said digital options had been slow to take off, stymied by connectivity and digital literacy issues.
"You've got to be set up at your end and the recipient has to also have the software, have the account," he said.
"And so far, that's been quite a barrier to entry."
Government-funded app compares rates
The issue of pricey remittances has not been lost on policymakers.
An app developed by the Australian and New Zealand governments, SendMoneyPacific, is helping seasonal workers compare costs.
"We evaluate a number of providers, you can see the comparison, this provider has an X amount of fee, but there is actually a margin of exchange rate added," program manager Dee Raghavan said.
"It is a transparent website, an app, that workers who are coming here can access, see other providers and the cost of sending, and have the freedom to choose and maybe switch to another provider.
"What a lot of the Pacific community do not realise is that they are actually being charged higher than the rest of the world."
Pacific region director for charity Save the Children, Kim Koch, said other families also needed help.
"Families in Vanuatu have experienced so much ... having to undergo two category four cyclones that have significantly damaged infrastructure, and in particular, their food sources," Ms Koch said.
"What is important, it is going to take time and money to recover from this."
Mr Firiam works long shifts at the butcher and plans to stay on for another year before returning home to build a house from the money he saved — one with a better chance at withstanding future cyclones.
"Now the weather is changing and we get disasters every year," he said.
Despite the higher fees, Mr Firiam knows the money he sends home makes a difference.
"Usually they buy food, use the money to pay for school fees and use for some private things like clothing," Mr Firiam said.
"It makes a big difference to them; better than before when I had no work, it makes life a bit easier."
