Premier Steven Marshall takes South Australia’s pitch for skilled migrants to Prime Minister Scott Morrison

More skilled migrants would call South Australia home, tailored visa programs would focus on regional areas and international students would receive special incentives, under a plan Premier Steven Marshall will send to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday.

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More skilled migrants would call South Australia home, tailored visa programs would focus on regional areas and international students would receive special incentives, under a plan Premier Steven Marshall will send to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday.

In addition to an SA-specific pitch to Mr Morrison, The Advertiser can also reveal Mr Marshall has spearheaded a submission from SA, Tasmania and the Northern Territory highlighting how the conversation about migration on the eastern seaboard is much different to other parts of the country.

“As a nation we realise migration is good for economic prosperity for our country,” Mr Marshall said.

“But the days of having a cookie-cutter approach, where we had one set of rules for the entire country, is not serving our country well.”

“We have a two-speed arrangement, where you have some states and cities where they don’t want any more migrants because their infrastructure has not kept up with their population growth and they want to slow the increase.

“However, there are other parts of the country that want to grow its population to deal with some of the significant skills constraints that are holding those states, like South Australia, back.”

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

In December, Mr Morrison laid down the gauntlet to states and territories at a meeting of leaders in Adelaide, arguing a population strategy for the country had to be driven from the “bottom up”.

States and territories were given until the end of January to put forward their population plans.

Mr Marshall said SA’s submission also focused heavily on keeping young South Australians in the state, as well as increasing our share of international students and encouraging more skilled migration.

Mr Marshall wants the Federal Government to develop more Designated Area Migration Agreements, known in the industry as DAMAs, that could offer incentives for skilled migrants to work in regional parts of SA. The DAMAs could also extend to specific occupations, highlighted in the State Government’s vision for the Lot Fourteen City Deal and essential for the growth of Adelaide.

Lot Fourteen, on the old RAH site, will host many future industries including the National Space Agency.

“As part of our MOU with the Federal Government for the City Deal we said we will toward signing a DAMA,” Mr Marshall told The Advertiser.

“We would like it to be a fast tracked DAMA focused on the aspirations we have for Lot Fourteen site.

“So for skills shortages that exist around critical areas like machine learning, defence, space, cyber, blockchain, agtech and creative industries.

“It would be a city deal DAMA focused on greater Adelaide and focused on the sectors most closely aligned to Lot Fourteen.”

Mr Marshall said SA also wanted to take more would-be Australians on permanent visas.

Last year, Australia fell 28,000 people short of its permanent migration target of 190,000 and Mr Morrison has forecast the target to remain about 160,000.

“There is a lot of talk about what that top number should be,” Mr Marshall said. “But what we are trying to say is it shouldn’t just be about that top number, it should be about the mix, so who gets what.

“At the moment we would like to get a greater share of that population increase.”

Mr Marshall would not be drawn on how many permanent migrants SA would like but if the state was to get its share of permanent migrants based on its population share of about 7 per cent of the nation’s, it would mean at least 11,200 could call the state home each year. This is already about 200 more than the state’s total population growth for last year, which included interstate migration and natural increases.

The idea was welcomed by migrants Ramon Soriano and Rommel Ramirez, who work at Smart Fabrication at Port Adelaide.

Mr Ramirez, a 41-year old welder, hopes to bring his wife and teenage son to Australia soon.

Ramon Soriano and Rommel Ramirez working at Smart Fabrication – Mr Ramirez is hoping to get his permanent citizenship in a few months and bring his family here. Picture: Matt Turner

“I have lived here for five years, I am a permanent resident but I am hoping to get my permanent citizenship in a few months,” he said. “I hope to bring my family here, we will call Adelaide home, I am very happy about my work and I love this country.”

Despite an interest in growing the state’s population through overseas arrivals, Mr Marshall said the Government was also focused on reversing SA’s brain drain that has seen a net loss of 5000-7000 locals leave the state each year.

“We want to grow the opportunities here so that we don’t have such a large exodus from South Australia on an annual basis,” he said. “If we could turn that tap off, we would have a 50 per cent increase in our population growth each year.”

Skilled migrants and international students will be encouraged to move to SA for jobs in industries such as defence, artificial intelligence, space and other digital technologies. Picture: AAP / David Mariuz

In a bid to grow the number of international students calling South Australia home, Mr Marshall wants greater incentives on students visas.

“If we had some additional post study work rights in low growth jurisdictions then that would make it more attractive for people to come and work in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania,” he said. Under the plan, international students that are allowed to stay on and work in their profession for a year or two could have that time frame extended by six or twelve months.

“They would find it more attractive to come to South Australia,” Mr Marshall said. “That ability to be able to work in Australia is very attractive to students and could give us the solution we need.”

A Deloitte Access Economics report released in November showed that the average international student contributes $36,600 to South Australia’s economy, with international students injecting $1.54 billion into the economy in 2017. In November last year modelling showed South Australia’s population could reach 1.85 million people in 2042 before spiralling into decline.