Immigration Minister David Coleman says he is looking at ways to attract the best talent to Australia to fill employment gaps in regional areas.
“It is our immigration program and it must reflect our choices,” Mr Coleman told .
“In particular, we need to look closely at ways of attracting the very best and brightest and filling employment gaps in regional areas.”
When SBS Punjabi reported on a last week, Mr Coleman said the Government was committed to improving the migration system in order to support the skill needs of regional Australia.
Australia’s immigration needs aren’t the same in all areas, and policy should take that into account," Immigration Minister David Coleman told SBS Punjabi.
"Where the system can be improved to better match immigration patterns to needs in specific locations, we should do that. In particular, we need to look closely at ways of filling employment gaps in regional areas,"he said.
During the recent weeks, the debate on rising population in Sydney and Melbourne has taken the centre stage in Australian politics with Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagging plans to make new migrants settle outside these two cities. Mr Coleman said it’s about giving the right incentive to the migrants to live in regional areas.
David Coleman, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Source: AAP
"It's about creating the right structure," he told Sky News on Sunday. "So the right incentives, the right reasons for immigrants to choose those regional areas.”
While Mr Coleman said the process for people to move to regional areas will be made simpler with the right incentives, he foreshadowed a tougher compliance around visas.
"It's also about ensuring that that's followed through upon. Obviously, if people come on a visa that's meant to be based in a regional area then compliance needs to be there to make that happen," he said.
It’s also reported that the Government may revamp the visa structure to strike out the ones relied upon by poorly-skilled migrants who become welfare-dependent.
In an overhaul of temporary skilled visas, the Government abolished 457 visa earlier this year and replaced it with Temporary Skills Shortage visa- tightening up the English language, work experience and minimum salary requirements.
According to Mr Coleman, Australian jobseekers are benefiting from these visa reforms.