South Australia has the important task to win the hearts and minds of the migrants to Australia. It aims to attract skilled migrants to the state. South Australia was able to attract only 10,000 migrants in a year. Australia is a good country and also a great place for families. Presently, there is a challenge of experiencing the red tape during the Australian migration process. The Federal Government should change the process to get a visa.
South Australia has a lesser growth in population
David Ridgway, the Tourism Minister stated that the State Government has a firm commitment to help in the growth of population by using the strategic skilled migration. At present, it is below the national average standing at 0.7 percent. There must also be a series of measures to stop the loss best and bright migrants to the other states.
The Economic and Finance Committee has received 36 submissions from universities, councils, migration experts and industrial associations regarding boosting the population. Furthermore, Research for the Department of State Development finds that there was a creation of one full-time job for every four global students in South Australia. If 10000 global students are pursuing studies in regional South Australia, it will create 2,500 jobs and also contribute $350 million to the economy annually. Moreover, the State Government must introduce a visa program like the regional 457 which is scrapped now.
Better opportunities
Additionally, the State Government must advance the educational opportunities for global students in the region and promote SA as a favorite destination for studying farming, agricultural business, viticulture, and horticulture. Moreover, the new visa program must have some conditions to link international students to the region for some years. Also, there must be a focus on Utilizing visa conditions and cancellation provisions.
Monitoring the activities of visa holders
Monitoring the activities of visa holders is important for reducing exploitation. The program must also not serve as a backdoor path for persons aiming to reside and work in Sydney/Melbourne. Australia has 30 regional cities with a population exceeding 30,000 residents and ten such cities have a population exceeding 100,000. SA must not lag behind other states to adopt a proactive approach and achieve regional growth.
Furthermore, there will be a private investment of $5 billion in the future. The construction sector in Port Augusta will require a large workforce. Apart from the new developments, even the existing employers struggle to meet the needs of their workforce.
Areas for crisis
The Upper Spencer Gulf region will face a major workforce crisis and also depend on skilled migrants for fulfilling its needs. Attracting immigrants was also necessary for filling skills gaps, creating jobs, driving investment, and growing the taxation base. Also, there was a need to compete with other states to be the best place for doing business.
There must be measures for reforming the tax system and planning, diversifying the economy, investing in infrastructure, and also in reducing red tape. In the vineyards of South Australia, employers experience difficulty to recruit managers and other staff. There is a recommendation regarding distributing annual migration intake to reflect the present population in each state/territory. The share of South Australia is 7 percent in the population of the nation. Finally, its share must be 7 percent of migrants, but it was just 4.4 percent in 2017.
