Population strategy will bring more migrants to South Australia, but fewer to Australia overall

More migrants will call South Australia home, with far greater ease, under a push to lure new arrivals away from big cities to the regions.

• My story: Migrants of South Australia
• Steven Marshall’s pitch for skilled migrants
• Why the feds want more migrants to settle in SA

More migrants will call South Australia home, with far greater ease, under a push to lure new arrivals away from big cities to the regions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Wednesday unveil a population strategy that will slash Australia’s possible migrant intake from 190,000 to 160,000.

But the flipside will see scores of migrants living and working in key regions and smaller cities, including Adelaide and SA.

Mr Marshall has called population growth his “No. 1 priority” since coming to power.

Migrant workers Ramon Soriano and Rommel Ramirez at Smart Fabrication, Port Adelaide. Picture: Matt Turner

The plan reads like the wishlist Premier Steven Marshall presented to the PM last month as part of his population plan for SA.

Mr Morrison’s plan includes new visas for regional areas, priority processing and incentives for international students including post-study work rights and tailored schemes to match skilled migrants to jobs in emerging industries, such as space and defence.

It comes as exclusive polling, commissioned by The Advertiser, shows one in three South Australians want to see the state’s population grow, compared to just one in 10 wanting a drop. The YouGov Galaxy polling revealed 54 per cent of South Australians want the population to remain stable.

Results of a YouGov Galaxy poll about South Australia's population.

Mr Morrison said his population strategy recognised that states such as SA needed to inject more life into their cities, towns and regions. “We won’t be distracted from the task at hand to make Australia’s cities and towns even better places to live,” he said.

“Better targeting our intake will address skills shortages and benefit the economy as a whole.” The plan includes:

REDUCING migration places from 190,000 to 160,000.

TWO new regional visas for skilled workers (23,000 places) requiring them to live and work in a region for three years before being able to access permanent residency.

NEW tertiary scholarships to attract Australian and international students to study in regional Australia ($15,000 for 1000 students each year).

GIVING international students studying at regional universities access to an extra year in Australia on a post-study work visa.

Adelaide University nursing student Bidhya Karki, who migrated from Nepal. She is also raising funds for cancer research. Picture: AAP / Morgan Sette

Mr Marshall said the state’s population growth rate of 0.7 per cent should be increased to reflect the national rate of 1.6 per cent, which would help grow the economy.

“One of the ways to achieve that is by stopping the brain drain of our young people interstate, placing a focus on attracting more international students, and through targeted skilled migration,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said the pursuit of population growth should only occur if it is sustainable and could not be at the “expense of people’s standard of living, or it defeats the purpose”.

“You shouldn’t be out there pursuing population growth if you are cutting services and closing hospital beds,” he said.

Australian Migrant Resource Centre chief executive Eugenia Tsoulis said South Australians tended to be more positive about migration than the eastern states.

“SA not only needs population growth but to support the kind of significant developments that have been happening,” she said. “The prospect of new industries and new jobs requires a lot of training for those people in SA, but also requires us to engage with the world.”