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2017 Saturday June 16, 2018 PLAYBOOKS 3

REGIONAL MIGRATION NEWS

Ending regional Key changes

population decline
BY JAMIESON MURPHY
THE Regional Australia Institute says there
is a simple solution to stopping regional
population decline and ending the long-
term workforce shortage afflicting country
towns across the nation – settling migrants
in rural towns.
The institute’s new policy paper, The
Missing Workers, outlines how small
changes in the nation’s immigration policy
would have huge economic benefits for
regional Australia.
RAI CEO Jack Archer says regional
migration projects scattered across Australia
are paying huge dividends for the towns
involved, with some small towns increasing
their population by up to 15 percent.
“In many cases, these migration strategies
have been locally-led, but carried out in
isolation,” Mr Archer said.
“Now we need to connect the dots and
help other rural towns capitalise on the
opportunities migrant settlement programs
can deliver. If we get this right, we can
stabilise the population in these areas, fill
jobs and get rural towns back on a decent
economic trajectory.”
RAI estimate that settling 2000 to 3000
migrants a year, for five years, across
regional Australia would put an end to
population decline.
“To put that in to perspective, 2000
migrants represent about one percent of our
annual migrant intake,” Mr Archer said.
“So we’re talking a mini-bus load of
people each year to one of the many small
rural towns that need people.”
Through its research, RAI identified a
handful of communities who have instigated
their own successful migration programs.
The institute’s policy aims to takes the key
ingredient from these towns and “scale it
up” to a coordinated national approach.
Tamworth in NSW is one of the communi-
ties who have “got it right”.
Titus Elias arrived in Tamworth from
India in 2013, and as a nurse in a city that’s
had a difficult time securing enough health
professionals to meet the regional demand,
his contribution to the community is
invaluable.
His wife Anju is a mid-wife, another oc-
cupation in high demand within the city. Mr
Elias said a national rural migration policy
was a “very good idea”.
“It helps to grow the community, the
INVALUABLE: Titus and Anju Elias, who migrated from India to Tamworth, are trained
health professionals helping to fill the city's workforce shortage. Photo: Gareth Gardner
surrounding businesses in the area and
the housing market,” he said. “Most of the
migrants that have arrived since 2013 have
already bought houses and are looking
to settle.”
North of Tamworth, the NSW border town
of Mingoola has been rejuvenated by its new
African migrant population.
In 2015, the community was devastated
to learn its school was going to close due to
falling student numbers, so the town began
to look at a migrant settlement program.
Three years on and 29 African migrants call
Mingoola home. The town’s school was
saved and the new families are farming
small plots of land made available by local
farmers, while also working on larger farms.
Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals
leader Michael McCormack has thrown his
weight behind the idea.
“When a skilled migrant comes to a
regional area, they can find a job, they go on
to make a significant social and – impor-
tantly – economic contribution to the area,”
Mr McCormack said.
“Regional small businesses, farmers
and people understand the vital economic
contribution skilled migration can make
to ensuring product moves from paddock
to plate, as well as services such as health,
education and many others, are availa-
ble locally.”
could drive
economic
sustainability
THE Regional Australia Institute policy pa-
per outlines a two-pronged approach for a
successful national rural migration strategy.
RAI wants motivated rural communities to
be established as “priority settlement areas”,
once they’ve ticked a number of boxes by
demonstrating their workforce need, hous-
ing availability, social integration capacity,
and local service capability.
These priority settlements would be given
preferential treatment and pushed to the top
of the nation’s migration list.
RAI suggests various methods to help rural
towns achieve this status, including more re-
sources for locally-led migration initiatives,
along with information packs and tool kits to
help communities manage the social aspect
of migration.
The institute also wants the government to
create a matchmaking system, to foster links
between rural employers and migrants, and
support for communities to identify their
workforce requirements.
“From our research, we’ve discovered
these are the key ingredients to becoming a
rural community that can successfully attract
and retain migrant workers,” RAI CEO Jack
Archer said.
The second part of the strategy is to make
small policy changes, which would make it
easier for migrants to settle in rural areas.
Australia’s immigration policy currently
recognises a list of 30 occupations that are in
demand in regional areas.
“That list of 30 doesn’t fit in to any one
community, and job needs vary from town to
town,” Mr Archer said.
“We want to see the immigration policy
recognise local labour needs, and make
them a priority in our visa system.”
RAI also recommends providing incen-
tives to encourage migrants to settle in rural
areas, such as set-up costs and increased
opportunities for family reunion.
Communities could also be incentivised
to achieve priority settlement status, through
additional settlement services such as lan-
guage classes that are often only found in
metro areas or larger regional hubs.
Finally, tweaking the way migration set-
tlement services are funded would remove a
massive barrier to rural migration.
The current system ties service provider
funding to catchment numbers and effec-
tively discourages migrant movement.
– JAMIESON MURPHY

Filipino families bring life to rural town

MANY rural Victorian towns
are battling steady popu-
lation decline, but in Pyra-
mid Hills the local Catholic
school has grown substan-
tially and for the first time in
many years, new houses are
being built.
The town has a population
just over 550, and more than
100 of those are Filipino.
Pyramid Hills’ story of
population decline would
sound familiar to many rural
towns across the country: a
farming region where farms
have amalgamated or been
purchased by absentee farm-
ers in recent decades, which
has had a significant effect
on the district’s population.
Between 2005 and 2010,
the local abattoir and pet
food factory both closed,
stifling job opportunities in
the town.
Loddon Shire mayor Cher-
yl McKinnon says the intake
of migrants to Pyramid Hill
was never seen as a project.
It was a practical solution for
a local business owner to ad-
dress a labour shortage.
Around 10 years ago,
piggery owner Tom Smith
needed to fill job vacancies
in his business, Kia-Ora Pig-
gery, and found it difficult
four new staff members and
brought them out to Pyra-
mid Hill.
Fast-forward a decade,
and his business now em-
ploys 24 Filipinos. More than
100 Filipino family members
also live in town, with some
filling roles at other local
businesses.
Mr Smith’s business has
BRING LIFE: Tom Smith with some of Pyramid Hills' nearly tripled in size since
Filipino residents, who have rejuvenated the town by taking on overseas workers,
filling the local workforce shortage. and the fabric of the town
has changed considerably.
New houses are being
to attract local labour. Mr Philippines to secure reliable built in the region as the mi-
Smith had seen a company staff and decided to do the grant families look to settle
in Queensland head to the same. Initially, he employed down. Local bank manager
Mark Lacey saw a business
opportunity and set up a
Filipino grocery store to ac-
commodate the needs of this
town’s new residents.
The local Catholic school
has grown, with 75 per cent
of the students of Filipino
heritage.
In 2015, the Pyramid Hill
Fiesta was born as a way to
foster inter-racial under-
standing and appreciation.
The festival became a shar-
ing of cultures and has been
an annual event for the last
three years, growing in par-
ticipation each year.
– JAMIESON MURPHY