Michael - Its becoming a government minimum to get your work and resident permit, 300 is currently the official min but is being moved up to 500, but these things change up and down around here. The problem is that the government has paid for many locals to get their CPL and now even instructors rating but the locals also expect to be given the jobs so dont put in the effort to deserve them. All the government sees is a list of unemployed local pilots that have been paid for by the government, thus make it harder for the expatriats to get jobs.
Monk - You cannot get onto a caravan straight away here regardless of hours, you would be started on the 206 and maybe fast tracked onto the caravan but keep in mind the only company around here that would fast track that is Wilderness, and they recently hired lots of 1000+ hr instructor rated pilots that will be ahead of you. You tend to look at around a year before you sit LH in a Caravan, RH is not logable as you are on it to get to know the area and be the AC loadmaster whilst you have just been hired. Also, there are no more twin operations outside of Flying Missions King Airs used for mercy flights.