When so much change surrounds us and the future of the country’s political leadership is up for grabs, it’s important to acknowledge the constants – the consistent elements that year after year, have shaped, and continue to shape, regional Australia.
The latest ABS population figures just released for 2023-24 tell us that regional Australia’s growth was predominantly driven by net overseas migration sitting at 55% or over 72,000 people. Whist as a nation we want to debate the headline numbers of new migrants arriving in Australia, regional communities are continuing to cry out for the skills needed to fill the 65,000 vacant jobs that will support the health, education and housing construction we desperately need.
For over two years, the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) has called for a dedicated population plan that will spatially create the scenario planning to set us up for the future. Sadly, last week's Federal Budget didn’t show signs of stepping towards this courageous and vitally important policy lever from either side of politics. But we absolutely must do this work, or we run the risk of walking blindly into the future, with no plan to manage the regional renaissance that is reshaping our nation. So, our hopes are now pinned to the May 3 Election, and I’ll be saddened to see the migration issue become a political issue when it’s simply so important to the almost 10 million people who call regional Australia home.
And here’s why. Immigration and regional Australia are historically intertwined. Migration has played a significant role in Australia’s early colonial history, with immigrants, predominately those of Anglo-Celtic heritage, coming to inhabit this vast land.
Resettling migrants into the regions was the method in which Europe demonstrated its immense colonisation power. And with that, Australia’s cultural, social and agricultural landscape was completely transformed.
Immigration to regional Australia however has historically not just been dominated by western countries. Communities, like Young in New South Wales, and Ballarat in Victoria were partly shaped by Chinese migrants who came to Australia as part of the gold rush. Across Queensland’s sugar cane growing districts, in places like Townsville, Mackay and Bundaberg, Pacific Islanders came to the regions as part of the unfree labour trade. Across northern Australia, Japanese pearl-divers arrived and in central Australia, there were Afghan traders.
In more recent times, the First and Second World Wars resulted in global migration to Australia, particularly from countries like Italy, Greece and Poland. National projects like the Snowy Hydro Electric Scheme and the establishment of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), also resulted in migration.
Regional Australia, and Australia as a whole, has been shaped by those who came here from afar. The importance of that contribution and the potential of what migration could deliver is the subject of a ground-breaking new research project the RAI is involved with. Whilst it can’t be said for all migrants who have come to Australia, many came because it was a choice they consciously made. They chose Australia for a better life.
What is a better life though? What does it mean in a contemporary context and how do we support it? Following World War Two, Australia’s economic and population agendas overlapped with a multicultural one. I suspect history may now be repeating itself, but with a different set of guiding principles.
The plan then was to drive more migrants to our biggest cities. Populate or perish. That initiative has ultimately been a success - in 2022-23, 83.5% of overseas arrivals settled in metropolitan Australia. Which means, just 16.5% of migrants came to regional Australia.
Population growth and city settlement worked, because it was matched with investment and infrastructure – both hard and soft. The same needs to occur in regional Australia and a strategic population plan could underpin this work.
Living in regional, rural and remote Australia is a brilliant way of life, but it currently comes with tradeoffs in areas like healthcare, education, childcare and other community service provision. It is why the RAI spearheaded the Regionalisation Ambition in 2022 – a 10-year framework for creating a more prosperous, inclusive regional Australia. The Ambition aims to end those tradeoffs, so no matter where you live you have access to what you need to live comfortably – and no one is left behind.
Movement to the regions provides a big opportunity for our country. The productivity and liveability benefits of our biggest cities getting bigger are waning. Where the gains can be made are in the regions. By better equipping the regions to develop, we can better equip the nation to face the future.
We know migration works when it’s matched with appropriate investment and wrap-around services to provide the connection, connectivity, security and sense of belonging people are seeking. That better life. And let’s be real, this is no different to any other Australian. We all have wants, needs, hopes and desires. So why should the mechanisms to enable, support and allow those who want to live regionally change depending on your country of birth?
Regional Australia is transforming. Migration has played a significant, consistent role in its history so far and we must ensure that it continues. It only will though, if there are shifts – to the way we support, fund and plan for our regions’ future. So, let’s make those changes, to ensure one of those most pivotal constants in our regional story remains.
Liz Ritchie
CEO, Regional Australia Institute (RAI)