Australia to settle more immigrants outside major cities

By Lidia Kelly

 

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The Australian government said on Saturday it is increasing the number of visas for skilled workers willing to migrate to the country's regions in a bid to ease pressure on major cities, where populations are growing twice as fast as elsewhere.

 

The government will increase the intake under its regional migration programme to 25,000 from 23,000, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison's office.

 

That does not mean, however, that Australia will be taking more immigrants.

 

Morrison's conservative government cut the annual immigration intake to 160,000 people as of July 1, versus 190,000 before. The 25,000 visas for those willing to live in smaller cities and regions are part of the annual migration cap.

 

Nearly a third of Australia's resident population were born overseas, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD.

 

Australia, a highly urbanised country with one of the highest population growth rates in the OECD, has about two-thirds of its population living in the capitals of states and territories, according to the 2016 government census data.

 

Between 2017 and 2018 the number of people living in those cities increased at twice the rate the number of people living outside them, recent government data show. Capital city growth accounted for 79% of Australia's total population growth.

 

"We're using our migration programme to back our regions to grow to take the population pressure off our major capital cities and by supporting strong regions we're creating an even stronger economy for Australia," Morrison said.

 

Migrants willing to live in locations outside of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane will have access to priority processing and international university graduates who live in these locations will be eligible to apply for more time in Australia on a post-study work visa. 

 

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly. Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-27

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

Sounds reasonable.

Sounds reasonable.

A marked change from the previous policies of letting new migrants to just settle anywhere they like and they all gone to the major cities and caused property prices to up,

however settling skilled migrants in rural areas and small cities how are they going to find employments there and soon enough they will allowed to move to the big cities...

18 minutes ago, ezzra said:

however settling skilled migrants in rural areas and small cities how are they going to find employments there

If they really are skilled and have the getup'ngo, then they CREATE employment in small-to-medium towns that often lack the cultural capacity for major change.

 

Has to be a good initiative. Should have happened long ago.

8 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

If they really are skilled and have the getup'ngo, then they CREATE employment in small-to-medium towns that often lack the cultural capacity for major change.

 

Has to be a good initiative. Should have happened long ago.

It’s been happening for a while in places like Shepparton in central Victoria and historically a lot of Italians moved to rural regions.

 

its the chicken and egg thing though, people go where the jobs are and if you are running a predominantly skilled migration programme then those jobs are going to be in the cities. 

4 hours ago, HLover said:

Sounds reasonable.

I agree, but what's to stop them moving into the cities after a short time outside of them?

4 minutes ago, jesimps said:

I agree, but what's to stop them moving into the cities after a short time outside of them?

The hope that they enjoy the regional and rural lifestyle and the cheaper cost of living. But most importantly, by the time that the pre-conditions of their migration have been met, that they have established enough of a life in that place that they don't want to move.

Edited October 27, 20196 yr by samran

So just create more No Go Zones....hummm

The latest news is Perth and the Gold coast will not classed as cities 

anymore and classed as regional, so if you get a job in Perth or the

Gold Coast, you don't need to move in to the country towns anymore.

7 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

The latest news is Perth and the Gold coast will not classed as cities 

anymore and classed as regional, so if you get a job in Perth or the

Gold Coast, you don't need to move in to the country towns anymore.

To Salerno, what is so funny about, it listen to the Australian news.

This has been done before and failed. Ask Tamworth what they think of the Sudanese.

On 10/27/2019 at 7:39 PM, jesimps said:

I agree, but what's to stop them moving into the cities after a short time outside of them?

You just pointed out the weak link.

They should be on temporary visas till such time as they can prove they intend to stay outside the main cities, like a minimum of 10 years.

Should have been the policy since day one.

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You just pointed out the weak link.

They should be on temporary visas till such time as they can prove they intend to stay outside the main cities, like a minimum of 10 years.

Should have been the policy since day one.

Perfect way to create a temporary migrant underclass with no incentive to integrate. If their lives are forever defined as ‘you aren’t one of us’ then you’ll see people who just wont want to fit in, and deliberately so. Why should they? 
 

How are they going to be confident that a new government won’t change that 10 years to 15 just to appease the tabloids and their knuckle dragging audience?
 

Even that high priest of Australian conservative politics, Peter Costello, disagrees:

 

“Mr Costello also rejected the idea of a "guest worker" scheme for Australia, saying our concept of an immigrant society was that all arrivals were offered the opportunity to become "full, first-class citizens".

 

It’s why it’s never been Australian policy to have long term temporary visas. 

Edited October 29, 20196 yr by samran

7 minutes ago, samran said:

Perfect way to create a temporary migrant underclass with no incentive to integrate. If their lives are forever defined as ‘you aren’t one of us’ then you’ll see people who just wont want to fit in, and deliberately so. Why should they? 
 

How are they going to be confident that a new government won’t change that 10 years to 15 just to appease the tabloids and their knuckle dragging audience?
 

Even that high priest of Australian conservative politics, Peter Costello, disagrees:

 

“Mr Costello also rejected the idea of a "guest worker" scheme for Australia, saying our concept of an immigrant society was that all arrivals were offered the opportunity to become "full, first-class citizens".

 

It’s why it’s never been Australian policy to have long term temporary visas. 

I disagree, but that's irrelevant, as I don't make the rules.

 

If their lives are forever defined as ‘you aren’t one of us’ then you’ll see people who just wont want to fit in, and deliberately so. Why should they? 

I'd have thought, seeing as this is a THAI forum, you would have been familiar with the situation in Thailand regarding farangs staying long time. We are NEVER  'one of them'.

Why should it be different for immigrants to Australia. It's not as though Australia actually needs immigrants any more.

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I disagree, but that's irrelevant, as I don't make the rules.

 

If their lives are forever defined as ‘you aren’t one of us’ then you’ll see people who just wont want to fit in, and deliberately so. Why should they? 

I'd have thought, seeing as this is a THAI forum, you would have been familiar with the situation in Thailand regarding farangs staying long time. We are NEVER  'one of them'.

Why should it be different for immigrants to Australia. It's not as though Australia actually needs immigrants any more.

Just because it’s that way here doesn’t make it right. 
 

As for Australia not needing migrants? You are joking right? Economic growth  would be in a hole tomorrow, public services would grind to a halt. 

On 10/27/2019 at 9:16 AM, car720 said:

Not quite so easy.  None of their skills are recognized no matter what they can exhibit.  There exists a kind of double deal in Australia that is very hard to explain.  For example, one person pays $200 to do a food safety certificate so that they can either get a job or open their own business but before they are awarded the certificate first they have to get signed of by someone in the industry to show that they have worked there and now  can exhibit all that they have learned.  This has become a dog chasing its tail for all ages and genders etc...  Plus regardless of how the pollies spin it the unemployment rate is rising.

I understand this. My daughter emigrated to South Australia. Took and passed a swim teachers course. Later they moved to Queensland. No-one 'recognised' her qualification. To teach in Queensland she would have to take the Queensland course or teach quietly and privately but their home didn't have a pool. So, being a chip off the old block she said ' oh dear, what a pity, how sad.....I'll do something else instead.' She did and now she's a school teacher. I wonder if her qualifications would be recognised in another State?

9 minutes ago, BRUFC said:

I understand this. My daughter emigrated to South Australia. Took and passed a swim teachers course. Later they moved to Queensland. No-one 'recognised' her qualification. To teach in Queensland she would have to take the Queensland course or teach quietly and privately but their home didn't have a pool. So, being a chip off the old block she said ' oh dear, what a pity, how sad.....I'll do something else instead.' She did and now she's a school teacher. I wonder if her qualifications would be recognised in another State?

Transferable, but yes a lot of qualifications are state based and an anachronistic holdover from federation.

28 minutes ago, samran said:

Just because it’s that way here doesn’t make it right. 
 

As for Australia not needing migrants? You are joking right? Economic growth  would be in a hole tomorrow, public services would grind to a halt. 

I think it's absolutely right for Thailand. 

 

Not everyone thinks "more" is the correct way to go. Living with stasis isn't a bad way to live.

Of course, the rich didn't get rich without an increasing population.

15 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I think it's absolutely right for Thailand. 

 

Not everyone thinks "more" is the correct way to go. Living with stasis isn't a bad way to live.

Of course, the rich didn't get rich without an increasing population.

And no one does better if the economy is tanking...