Magic Round heads to regions to promote the Welcome Experience program

Thousands of essential workers and their families have ditched the city and moved to the bush to try out a new program lining them up with jobs, schools and mates in a new town.

Shariqa Rahman had heard all the myths about life in the bush.

But after making the move this year from Bankstown to the Far South Coast town of Merimbula with her newborn baby and doctor husband Mehran Modasser, one of more than 1700 essential workers who have ditched the city and relocated to regional NSW in the past 18 months, she’s thrilled with the “huge change of pace”.

“The prejudice that there’s nothing to do or not much going on has been cleared for me,” she said.

“You can have a great social life or choose to embrace the quieter life … regional towns aren’t lacking at all.”

The Daily Telegraph can reveal 1757 essential workers, including cops, teachers and nurses, have moved to regional NSW in the past 18 months under the state government’s Welcome Experience initiative, taking 1913 family members with them.

Doctor Mehran Modasser, Shariqa Rahman and their baby made the move to the regions and are encouraging others to do the same. Picture: Supplied

The program partners workers with local “connector” to help them find places to live, schools for their kids and jobs for their partners to ease them into life in a new town.

Families are also introduced to other locals to meet new friends and become part of the community.

The state’s far west has attracted the most workers since the program started two years ago, with 406 people relocating to bush towns including Broken Hill and Balranald, followed by the Orana region, Riverina and Far South Coast.

On the jobs front, NSW Health has driven the highest number of relocations, with 754 employees leaving Sydney for a tree-change to plug critical shortages in regional healthcare.

Hundreds of police officers, teachers and paramedics have also made the move alongside essential workers in the private health, aged care, early childhood education and veterinary sectors.

In one of the program’s biggest success stories so far, Dr Modasser and seven other GPs moved to the Bega Valley, where locals had struggled to see a local doctor for years.

As Dr Modasser started his GP training at Bega Valley Medical Practice, a local “connector” introduced Ms Rahman to a mother’s group which has also helped her settle into life as a first-time mum.

“Everything is a little bit more relaxed and obviously having the support of the program was really helpful to help us integrate into the community,” Ms Rahman said.

“It’s made that transition so much easier.

“It’s much more affordable. We live in a three-bed double-storey house … I’m definitely enjoying the quieter, slower pace of life, being near nature and the water.”

More than 5000 other people have registered for the program, taking up the call to move to 55 different council areas across NSW for government and non-government jobs.

The program will be highlighted in Newcastle next weekend as part of the NRLW’s inaugural Magic Round, which will be staged in regional towns for the next three years.

Parramatta Eels NRLW players Rachel Pearson and Taneka Todhunter, who grew up in Hay and Dubbo, urged more city-slickers to try out regional life ahead of the event.

“I love the community and how much we love our sport out there,” Pearson said.

“It’s very exciting. I know all the regional towns will get behind the footy.”

Regional NSW Minister Tara Moriarty encouraged footy fans to “take some extra time to explore” when they head out for the special event.

She said one trip could inspire people to “make the move”, as the Welcome Experience begins to make progress on fixing “workforce shortages and setting our regions up for a stronger future”.

Originally published as Magic Round heads to regions to promote the Welcome Experience program