28/11/2025
Wishing you all the best in your future endeavours Madam Commissioner.
Farewell Madam Commissioner of Labour , Murielle Meltenoven
Our amazing strong and integral female leader, Murielle Meltenoven, has resigned from her position as Commissioner of Labour. She has achieved so much over the last seven years, working tirelessly to serve her country, Vanuatu and her people.
The public will remember you Commissioner, for so many different reasons and achievements including the development of the Labour Mobility Policy, the National Employment Policy, and the Labour Mobility Reintegration Strategy and Action Plan. When COVID closed international borders around the world, Commissioner was part of the bilateral negotiations to restart labour mobility between Vanuatu and Australia & New Zealand supporting remittances flowing back into the country at such a critical time. Vanuatu was a pioneer in the region with regards to developing labour mobility ecosystem partnerships in the ‘family/ worker preparation’ and ‘family/ worker reintegration’ space, addressing some of the challenges associated with labour mobility. The Commissioner led the discussions, decisions and application to increase minimum wage.
So many people reflected about how the Commissioner was a walking encyclopedia and knew intricate details about domestic labour policy and the labour mobility programs, whilst at the same time engaging so effectively at the higher strategic level.
International partners always enjoyed her presentations at international and regional forums: clear, concise presentations that were on point and full of warmth, humour and a collaborative spirit. Commissioner was an avid supporter of strengthening strategic research and evidence in both the domestic labour, and labour mobility areas so that leaders had the knowledge to make informed policy decisions in the work. And the list of achievements over the last seven years goes on and on.
We as the Department of Labour staff, will remember you mostly for your inclusive, open, humble, transparent and empowering approach to leadership which has resulted in us all, your staff, growing so much, to become strong and effective public servants committed to effective and collaborative teamwork, who implement domestic labour and labour mobility services to a very high standard; and who are confident to represent Vanuatu in all scenarios: community level, provincial, national, regional and international.
And for this, we thank you Commissioner, our leader, our mentor and our friend.
We wish you good health and as we approaching the festive season we take this time to Wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy Prosperous New Year 2026.
