How to entice more migrants into the regions

[Cerberus1]

When regional Australia is calling out for migrants to fill jobs and boost dwindling populations, and most new arrivals stay in the cities, how can they be enticed to settle in the regions?

In the last financial year, 101,255 migrants arrived in Australia and of these, only 6,637 settled in regional Australia, according to the Department of Home Affairs.

Rockhampton-based Central Queensland University academic Ataus Samad has put forward a solution.

Dr Samad said a holistic approach needed to start before migrants arrived, along with more support to get them directly to regional areas.

"We found that the current process of resettling people from metropolitan cities to regional areas is difficult because once people settle in big cities, they are reluctant to move," he said.

Often their children have started school, and even if migrants do not have jobs, they have their local community to support them.

"If we place migrants straight away in metropolitan areas within their own comfort zone, people don't have the motivation to go out and talk to others," Dr Samad said.

When migrants settled into regional areas, they were motivated out of necessity to talk to their neighbours or school teachers and to better integrate, he said.

This is an issue the Federal Government has grappled with, and figures from the Department of Home Affairs show about 6 per cent of skilled migrants settle in regional areas.

Data from its Continuous Survey of Australia's Migrants found that of those skilled migrants who settled in regional areas, 10 per cent moved to a major city between six and 18 months after settling.

Meanwhile, agribusiness employers across regional Australia face the challenge of attracting skilled labour.

Dr Samad recently presented research at a Developing Northern Australia conference outlining these challenges.

He found that most of the labour shortage in regional areas was met by seasonal workers under different visa conditions, but this was not necessarily good for the local economy.

"They earn here and spend somewhere else because they are seasonal workers or backpackers and their motivation is different," Dr Samad said.

"They work here to earn their day-to-day living and make enough money to go around Australia and visit different places but not to invest in the local community."

Employers take on temporary migrants or seasonal workers because they are unable to get permanent migrants or people from their local community to employ in their industries, he said.

"The solution is to utilise the migrants we already have in Australia, whether they are refugees or skilled migrants, and get them to regional areas and get them to fill the skill gap," Dr Samad said.

Dr Samad said he had seen this work.

He was involved in a successful program piloted by the Federal Government seven years ago, where refugees from Myanmar were resettled into the small central Queensland town of Biloela, 200km west of Rockhampton.

It was part of the Rural Employment Assistance Program (REAP), which relocated newly arrived migrants and refugees from Logan, south of Brisbane, where there were high levels of unemployment.

Dr Samad said one of the program's successes was the fact a number of families from the same ethnic background moved to the town.

He is working with CQ University and Charles Sturt University to identify the minimum of number of people needed to settle in a regional area to meet that critical mass.

"There are successful resettlement programs in regional areas, not only in Queensland, but in NSW, Victoria and other places in Australia," Dr Samad said.

Dr Samad said any resettlement also had to be led locally.

"They know their area best, and my personal view is that we need to give the entire process of resettlement to local community and local government," he said.

Dr Samad also noted there was a general perception that regional communities were not welcoming to migrants, and that some communities had not been exposed to migrants.

"Although we have some shocking statistics that our regional areas are not supportive of migrants in their community, my experience living in a regional area is people are very welcoming and supportive, provided we consult them," he said.

"We need people to bridge this fear and as soon as this fear is bridged, regional communities are really welcoming."

On the other hand, many migrants had misconceptions of what life in regional Australia was like and many had the perception it was a wild area.

Dr Samad said although there was a lot of encouragement from the Federal Government with visa categories for settlement in regional areas, there was a mismatch between the regional settlement of skilled migrants and the actual employment of skilled migrants.

"We need to start the process from the very beginning — the moment we select which refugees we accept into Australia, where do we resettle them has to come under a holistic plan," he said.

Full article @ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-30/enticing-migrants-to-the-regions-and-out-of-cities/10040146

 

[starlight7]

Unfortunately the regional areas do not offer that much for new migrants.  There isn't a lot to do and some of the areas do not attract tourists, either ( so not much in the way of cafes, restaurants, etc). I don't know what the answer is really though perhaps encouragement for manufacturers and boutique foods/wineries might help . Maybe a good subsidy from the government for small rural businesses might help ( I am sure it would).  Plus enticements for medical staff, teachers etc. Maybe a nice hefty rural loading for workers? 

[Parley]

Surely Australia needs to cut migration not try and entice more people ?

We are struggling to digest all the migrants who are already here.

Seasonal workers can be filled by backpackers on tourist visas.

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, Parley said:

Surely Australia needs to cut migration not try and entice more people ?

We are struggling to digest all the migrants who are already here.

Seasonal workers can be filled by backpackers on tourist visas.

Same problem in the UK - if the people already there don't want to do the agricultural jobs then you need migration to support agriculture.

As the report noted, Backpackers take their money with them to travel, they don't spend it locally.

[CockerSpaniel]

2 hours ago, Parley said:

Surely Australia needs to cut migration not try and entice more people ?

We are struggling to digest all the migrants who are already here.

Seasonal workers can be filled by backpackers on tourist visas.

Surely Australia needs to entice more people to the regions and for them to stay there. I agree the big cities don't need more people and that's the problem.

But to say seasonal work needs to be filled by backpackers? Whilst they can certainly pick up the slack and generally have a much better work ethic than the locals and there is usually some lights on upstairs, there is the issue of retention and imparting knowledge. And you need to get backpackers which aren't on the East Coast 'waaheeeyyy lets get smashed and be idiots for two years' boat.

What Australia needs is competent people who have the ability to problem solve and who will live regionally. Who are educated and don't need spoon feeding and who aren't meth heads with the job sticking power of a wet flannel. Whilst there are some in the regions who are good, unfortunately there is a chronic shortage of decent labour.

[CockerSpaniel]

2 hours ago, starlight7 said:

Unfortunately the regional areas do not offer that much for new migrants.  There isn't a lot to do and some of the areas do not attract tourists, either ( so not much in the way of cafes, restaurants, etc). I don't know what the answer is really though perhaps encouragement for manufacturers and boutique foods/wineries might help . Maybe a good subsidy from the government for small rural businesses might help ( I am sure it would).  Plus enticements for medical staff, teachers etc. Maybe a nice hefty rural loading for workers? 

This is true. Often the places which need new blood and knowledge in the area suffer from catch 22. There's not much for them to do as it is such a different lifestyle that they leave for the big population centers.

The other issue is even things like sports, not everyone only wants to play AFL, cricket or hockey!

[HibiscusDreams]

It's not that Australia has too many migrants, but that - as the OP article says - they all settle in the capitals. The problem is unemployment - rural towns just don't have the permanent, full time jobs needed by new arrivals to establish themselves and get on their feet. Rather than encouraging them to move to very small rural towns (as in the example in the OP) a better move might be to encourage migration to secondary cities, i.e. Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong, Townsville, Cairns, Bunbury etc.as well as the smaller capitals like Hobart and Darwin instead of the big five. The best way to do this would be to make more employment/skill based visas either contingent upon settling outside of the big five, or providing an incentive (fewer "points", and/or a fee discount) for regional settlement. 

[JetBlast]

2 big points for me.

1. Good internet

2. Goos transport links

Many regional areas fail on one or both of these.

[HibiscusDreams]

5 hours ago, JetBlast said:

2 big points for me.

1. Good internet

2. Goos transport links

Many regional areas fail on one or both of these.

 

 

[Bulya]

15 hours ago, CockerSpaniel said:

This is true. Often the places which need new blood and knowledge in the area suffer from catch 22. There's not much for them to do as it is such a different lifestyle that they leave for the big population centers.

The other issue is even things like sports, not everyone only wants to play AFL, cricket or hockey!

Hockey???

[starlight7]

Not seen too many hockey teams outback!  A few netball and basketball teams around though these days. Camel races? Toad races?

[Paul1Perth]

Doctor Samad talks common sense. Problem is though if the government made immigrants settle in regional Australia the Human Rights groups and lawyers would have a field day and say people should be allowed to choose where they settle.

I reckon if there are people who have been assesed as refugees and are just stuck in camps somewhere waiting for a visa,  give them priority and speed it up if they are willing to settle in smaller towns that need workers and the extra numbers to keep going. 

Isn't Kalgoorlie struggling to find workers?

[Paul1Perth]

16 hours ago, HibiscusDreams said:

It's not that Australia has too many migrants, but that - as the OP article says - they all settle in the capitals. The problem is unemployment - rural towns just don't have the permanent, full time jobs needed by new arrivals to establish themselves and get on their feet. Rather than encouraging them to move to very small rural towns (as in the example in the OP) a better move might be to encourage migration to secondary cities, i.e. Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong, Townsville, Cairns, Bunbury etc.as well as the smaller capitals like Hobart and Darwin instead of the big five. The best way to do this would be to make more employment/skill based visas either contingent upon settling outside of the big five, or providing an incentive (fewer "points", and/or a fee discount) for regional settlement. 

I think those smaller Secondary Cities  you mention probably have worse unemployment problems than big cities. You would have to choose smaller communities that have jobs available, even if they are just picking fruit.

[Paul1Perth]

19 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Same problem in the UK - if the people already there don't want to do the agricultural jobs then you need migration to support agriculture.

As the report noted, Backpackers take their money with them to travel, they don't spend it locally.

Backpackers do spend locally. Check out popular backpacker places. I was in Darwin a few weeks ago and the main street has loads of backpacker places. Loads of the bars and restaurants employ them and when they aren't working they are out spending. Bars were full of them having a good time.

[Cerberus1]

BankSA CEO Nick Reade, (speaking at the launch of BankSA's latest economic bulletin) says incentives are needed to attract skilled migrants to smaller cities and regional centres.

He said approaching population growth in a smart and targeted way was vital for the less populated cities and states to ­develop stronger economies and higher living standards through increased workforce participation and productivity.

“With our regional towns and centres, we need to provide the right incentives to get more ­people to move there,” Mr Reade said yesterday. “Australia doesn’t need less migrants, we just need to find ways to attract more migrants — and other Australians — to states like South Australia.”

Melbourne had grown by more than 125,000 people, Sydney by more than 100,000, and Adelaide by just 9600 in 2016-17, he said.

The number of skilled ­migrants to South Australia had dropped by 23 per cent since 2014-15, from almost 11,000 ­people to about 8000, he said.

“Other cities are bursting at the seams, and facing real challenges as a result,” he said. “But we cannot allow the loud voices to our east to drive outcomes that would only worsen our situation. Rather than growing our population simply for the sake of having more people, we must be focused on ­attracting skilled workers from ­interstate and overseas.”

In calling for a plan to address South Australia’s sluggish population growth, which at 0.6 per cent lags behind the rest of the country, Mr Reade backed a target of at least 1.6 per cent, or an extra 17,000 people, a year.

He said education models needed to be revamped to ensure skills matched fast-growing and changing industries, and for the small business start-up rate to increase from 11 to 15 per cent, which would see an extra 7000 firms ­offering employment.

“We should also consider more semi-skilled workers — including migrants — to fill the jobs that unfortunately many South Aus­tralians don’t want to do,” he said.

Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge said the country had a migrant distribution problem. The federal government is looking to impose conditions on skilled visa holders, forcing people to spend far more time in regional centres.

“When they’re there, hopefully they’ll put down roots, have their kids going to school, and make it their home,” Mr Tudge said.

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall told the BankSA forum that Canberra had ­accepted “we do have a two-speed population” issue and the state needed “preferential migration status”. “There are states that say we have got too much (growth) — that is not our problem in South Australia; we are missing out,” Mr Marshall said.

 

Elsewhere, former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said there needed to be more money spent on regional infrastructure to encourage people to the country.

“In Sydney, people are saying it is just so overcrowded … the traffic is bad,” 

“Rather than spend another $5 billion on Sydney roads why don’t spend half a billion dollars in Tamworth and attract a lot more people into that area … and actually start spreading the population around.”

[unzippy]

I'm guessing as the Aus government make it harder for immigrants to emigrate to Aus, the problem will become worse.

You will only be able to come in if you are highly skilled or highly loaded.  Broadly speaking, neither of those type of immigrants will want to live out in the sticks as the job opportunities or lifestyle that they are used to, exist there.

Edited August 14, 2018 by unzippy

[s713]

The Govt. has a 'Big Australia' vision where they can recoup vast levels of taxation to drive public spending and services. However, the challenges are there are no real jobs other than in Melbourne and Sydney and the infrastructure in general in this Country is poor yet still extortionate to sustain. Both issues need significant investment that the Govt. simply does not have. So, in the short-term, more people equals more pain and more costs.

Plus, you'd have to be mad to move to Australia and live non-Metro.

[unzippy]

How is the pension situation here in Aus?

If I recall correctly, that's why Germany is gung ho with their immigration - they need them to fund their soon to be pensioners.

[Rallyman]

On 14/08/2018 at 16:26, s713 said:

Plus, you'd have to be mad to move to Australia and live non-Metro.

Why do you think this , we live regional and love it , plenty of work for myself and wife and a life Style we could only ever dream about in uk 

[ali]

On ‎14‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 13:56, unzippy said:

I'm guessing as the Aus government make it harder for immigrants to emigrate to Aus, the problem will become worse.

You will only be able to come in if you are highly skilled or highly loaded.  Broadly speaking, neither of those type of immigrants will want to live out in the sticks as the job opportunities or lifestyle that they are used to, exist there.

I was listening to talk radio the other week and they were debating if visa's should only be granted to the regional areas if that's where the needs are.

[Bob North]

Australia is one of the better placed Western countries as far as old age demographics is concerned.

Some eastern European countries such as the Ukraine and Baltic nations as well as Germany and Italy have about 1.3 children per family. . . . . . . almost halving their population every generation (which is a demographic of 1.1)

Germany and Italy have almost used up their economic "bonus" with low fertility levels, the economy diverting government resources to roads, hospitals, etc. instead of schools for young kids and working age women particularly were able to join the workforce full time instead of juggling their working life around having three or four kids for several years, but now that very same bonus is coming back to bite them on the bum as the workers age and eventually retire with nobody younger to push their wheelchairs or pay the necessary income tax to pay for all the oldies old age pensions, health care and residential requirements.

Europe is buggered, basically.

China is even more stuffed, with its one child policy for the past forty years. One young working age person there not only has two parents to cater for, but also four grand parents who will need looking after. It is a pyramid upside down, ready to fall over after 2025.

[Areyousure]

On 19/08/2018 at 09:15, Rallyman said:

Why do you think this , we live regional and love it , plenty of work for myself and wife and a life Style we could only ever dream about in uk 

There are so many places in Australia other than Sydney and Melbourne, which are amazing. Obviously depends on what you want in life tho. 

[Emily6789]

22 hours ago, Areyousure said:

There are so many places in Australia other than Sydney and Melbourne, which are amazing. Obviously depends on what you want in life tho. 

totally agree with you on this, Gold Coast, Wollongong , the blue Mountains, Bendigo and byron Bay, to name a few.