The Morrison government has promised visa reforms that will force a significant chunk of Australia's annual intake of 190,000 permanent migrants to spend "at least a few years" in regional areas before they can move to a city like Sydney or Melbourne.
The move, advocated by the Nationals and key lobby groups like the Farmers’ Federation, is part of the government’s bid to tackle population growth in the country’s congested capitals while stimulating regional areas crying out for more labour.
Scott Morrison’s newly appointed “congestion-busting” minister for population and cities, Alan Tudge, announced the plan at a speech in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Existing regional visas only divert around 5,000 of the annual permanent intake, which is capped at 190,000 places.
The new scheme would be much more ambitious and could force nearly half of the migration stream to settle in regional areas and the smaller states.
Mr Tudge said the policy would not impact the 25 percent who come on employer-sponsored visas, where a specific company vouches for the migrant, or the roughly 30 percent who come on family reunion visas.
“But about 45 percent of our visas aren’t attached to a geographical location as such, and therefore there are those opportunities to provide those incentives and encouragements to reside elsewhere,” Mr Tudge said.
The visas would require migrants to live outside the major cities for "at least a few years", he said, using a “combination of encouragement and some conditions”.
The government’s proposal relates to skilled visas, but Mr Tudge said there was an ongoing discussion about moving more of the humanitarian refugee intake to rural areas as well.
Enforcement questioned
The minister would not specify what punishments might apply to migrants who breach their conditions, or how long the conditions would be imposed.
“Nearly every visa has some conditions attached to it,” he said, flagging more detail in the coming "months".
The former head of the Australian Border Force, Roman Quadvlieg, questioned how the policy would be enforced.
Mr Quadvlieg, who was sacked for misconduct in March and has since been vocal in criticising the government's moves in the migration space, said it would be impossible to "police" the visa rules without "substantial resources".
Border Force is the agency that enforces existing visa rules.
Migrants in the bush
There are already several visas designed to bring migrants to regional areas, but Home Affairs data shows one in 10 who come on such schemes choose to leave for a city within 18 months.
The country welcomed 4,766 skilled workers to regional areas in 2016-17, but almost half settled in Perth. The government removed Perth as a “regional” destination in November but Darwin, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart remain eligible.
I nuovi immigrati saranno costretti a vivere fuori Sydney e Melbourne fino a 5 anni, secondo una proposta del governo federale che verrà presentata questa sera per migliorare la congestione delle città più popolate d'Australia.
Il ministro delle infrastrutture Alan Tudge presenterà i cambiamenti in un discorso al Menzies Research Centre a Melbourne. Secondo il piano, ai nuovi immigrati verranno concessi dei visti con limitazioni per bilanciare la crescita nelle grandi città, che ha sforato le previsioni del 100% nell'ultimo decennio.
"In those places they're often crying out for more people so our overall objective is to get a better distribution of that population growth across the country”
Il quotidiano The Australian riporta che il governo, nell'ambito della sua politica demografica, collaborerà con gli stati per realizzare un nuovo piano di infrastrutture e di controllo della popolazione.
Uno degli obiettivi è di ridurre i 25 miliardi di dollari persi in attività economiche ogni anno a causa del traffico cittadino.
Tudge ha dichiarato a Channel 7 che Melbourne, Sydney e il sud est del Queensland stanno subendo una crescita eccessiva, mentre gli stati più piccoli e le zone regionali sono ferme.
La proposta del governo federale non è stata accolta con entusiasmo dal governo laburista del Victoria. Il premier Daniel Andrews ha dichiarato che il suo governo sta già facendo tutto quello che è necessario per rimanere al passo con la crescita della popolazione.
"As I said I'm not about telling people where they should and shouldn't live, I'm about connecting every Victorian no matter where they live, creating jobs, investing in the infrastructure we need in road and rail, hospital and schools."
