An ambitious four-year project led by Adelaide University aims to shed new light on how regional Australia settles and retains migrants.
The Whole-of-Community approaches to regional migration, settlement and retention project will explore the issue and how it impacts communities in South Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria.
Funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage grant, researchers from Adelaide will work with colleagues from Charles Darwin, La Trobe and Charles Sturt Universities as well as state and local governments and peak migration bodies.
"We'll use a combination of novel mixed methods across regional sites to explore migration and settlement dynamics from all sections of regional communities," lead chief investigator Associate Professor David Radford, Adelaide University said.
"It also includes Aboriginal communities as partners in the research, not simply as a backdrop to regional settlement.
"Our research team and partner organisations will work closely together to develop new knowledge and evidence-based insights of migrant experiences and community dynamics which will have the potential to shape future policy design, support migrant attraction and retention and strengthen regional development outcomes."
Dr George Tan, population geographer at Adelaide University, highlighted the population pressures facing many regional communities and the role migration plays.
“The demographic profile of regional communities are generally older, and this is partly due to youth outmigration as well," he said.
"This has implications with many facing labour shortages in different sectors, however migration can play a part in addressing in addressing these challenges."
The project was officially launched on Wednesday, 8 October, with representatives from the South Australian Government, Murray Bridge Council, Tatiara District Council, Indigenous community partners, the Australian Migrant Resource Centre and Welcoming Australia attended the launch.
Professor Andrew Taylor, demographer at CDU’s Northern Institute, said regional policy still leans too heavily on attracting people and not enough on why they stay.
“Regional towns and communities cannot plan for their population and economic futures on attracting people through jobs alone,” Professor Taylor said.
“Retention is about whether a place works for families, delivers a sense of belonging and has the necessary infrastructure to embed people in the community.”