Bush Summit 2022: Leaders vow to pursue more jobs, more affordable housing in the bush
Fast tracking permanent residencies to bolster Australia‘s sparse labour market will be a priority on every level of government, with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowing to fix critical worker shortages at Friday's The Daily Telegraph Bush Summit in Griffith.
The housing crisis, affordability, and bringing jobs and services and more opportunities to the bush were the recurrent themes for discussion at today's The Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit for 2022 at Griffith.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet were among a host of guest speakers and panellists to attend today's summit, taking the temperature of the state of the NSW regional areas and the bush, and discussing its challenges and opportunities.
Scroll down to see our coverage of how the day unfolded.
Fast-tracking permanent residencies to help fix Australia’s shortage of critical workers will be a priority for every level of government, Premier Dominic Perrottet and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have vowed.
Medium and high density housing in regional hubs will be used to lure workers to the regions, after businesses across the state cried for staff.
Speaking at the Bush Summit, operated by our sister publication The Daily Telegraph, both leaders flagged changes to lure more international workers to Australian jobs with Mr Perrottet saying he will lobby for the issue at the upcoming Jobs Summit in Canberra.
“When it comes to shortages, we’ve got to be moving very, very quickly and I’m very confident as part of the Jobs Summit … these matters will be addressed. We need to also look at the permanent residency and give people the opportunity to come,” he said.
Mr Perrottet said the low unemployment rate was an opportunity for people to break into careers where historically access has been limited.
“It’s great that we have the lowest unemployment rate … there are many times throughout our history when there are hierarchies and people aren’t able to get work.”
Mr Albanese agreed, saying “easier, simple pathways to permanent residency” were the key to fixing the worker shortage. “Why would you have temporary pathways whereby you have someone here for three years and then they go on, you find someone else and have them here for three years and (then) you find someone else?” he said.
“Why wouldn't you have easier, simpler pathways to permanent residency, so that people can put down their roots just as the Italians did in Griffith for the last 100 years.
“We will need engineers. We will need nurses. We will need chefs. There’s a range of professions (with shortages) that we know aren’t about to end. We're not about to wake up in 10 years time and say: ‘Jeez, We’ve got too many damn engineers, what are we going to do with them’?”
Mr Albanese took a swipe at predecessor Scott Morrison’s government for the lack of support provided to temporary visa holders during the Covid lockdowns, saying it “wasn’t the smartest thing to do”.
He said the treatment of temporary visa holders during the pandemic has played a part in Australia‘s failure to attract workers from the “global labour market”.
The PM also threw his weight behind The Daily Telegraph’s push for more medium and high-density housing in the region to attract young people to the bush.
Mr Albanese said he had heard calls from mayors who wanted a mix of new housing options to address the “major issue” of housing affordability.
“There are so many people who, post-pandemic, in particular, are thinking about how there (is a) real advantage and see moving out of the capital cities and enjoying the lifestyle of moving into a vibrant community like this,” he said. “The mayor here has been speaking about how to attract people … this (means the) community needs more higher density or medium density housing to get younger people … they’re all issues I think we can work with.
“I'm a big fan of working through elected local representatives to listen to what the solutions are rather than bureaucrats or politicians in Canberra or Macquarie Street making decisions for them.”
On a state level, Mr Perrottet’s pitch to the bush ahead of the 2023 state election included the promise of a new advertising campaign to promote the regions to national and international travellers.
Mr Perrottet said he will focus on more advertising to promote NSW's regions to continue the momentum gained during the pandemic when domestic travel boomed.
“When I was on a recent trade mission to Japan, Korea and India, I met with a whole lot of tourist providers who were talking about the opportunity of restarting tourism in the regions. The questions we should be pursuing through Destination NSW is driving traction and advertising … what we have in regional NSW,” he said.
“Now with international borders reopening you’re probably, like me, really annoyed at all your friends posting pictures on Instagram from Europe …. but people in Australia got a real appreciation for our domestic holidays during the pandemic. “That tourism in the bush, which would have come at a very difficult time … (after) drought and bushfires, (was) an economic boom."
These measures will help families like that of mum-of-two Amanda Hindmarsh.
She and her kids Noah and Erin live in the western NSW town of Menindee – for Ms Hindmarsh, there isn’t a better place to bring up a family.
“It’s just the best life for kids, the great outdoors … We do a lot of camping and hunting. They love being outdoors,“ she said. Though remote, Menindee is a beautiful place to visit.
“The lakes are full, the river is full, it’s beautiful. With all the water we get beautiful sunsets and there are lots of fish.”
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