Federal five-year migration plan to ‘target’ the Territory

THE NT will be a ‘target area’ for a Commonwealth Government plan to require new migrants to live in regional areas

Congo migrants Edouard Ndjamba Ndjoku, Grace (15) Marc (10)Jonathan (8) and Daniella (5) pose for a photo near their home in Rapid Creek on Tuesday, October 9, 2018. The government is encouraging migrants to move to regional areas like Darwin. Picture: Keri Megelus

THE Northern Territory will be a “target area” for a Commonwealth Government plan to require new migrants to live in regional areas for five years after arriving in Australia.

Federal Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Minister, Alan Tudge, yesterday flagged the government’s intention to force some migrants to settle outside Sydney, Melbourne and southeast Queensland in a dual bid to reduce urban congestion and boost regional economies.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner welcomed the announcement — which is understood to be targeting up to 160,000 migrants a year — saying it would compliment the Territory Government’s own population plan.

“I’ve made it very clear to them that he NT wants to partner up with the Australian Government around growing our population here and I am very pleased to see the Australian government announcement today around placing more people in our remote places like the NT,” he said.

“Right now we know we’ve got shortages in pilots and child care workers, we’ve got too many kitchens with backpackers working in them, we want that to change.”

But Mr Gunner said it was unclear how many of the migrants would be directed toward the NT and called for more detail on how the plan would be enforced.

“Part of the details we’re probably looking for is which regions they’re going to be targeting and how they’re going to be targeting it, so how much are they going to thin out their plans versus how much they’re going to concentrate it,” he said. “I think it goes to the visa conditions and how they’ll be monitoring that because we don’t want people to try and meet it, you know ‘tick, I’m going to Darwin and then Footloose it out of here down south’, we want to make sure they do genuinely stay.”

Territory Opposition Leader Gary Higgins also welcomed the plan, while flagging opportunities for more federal government services to be based in the NT.

“Growing the Territory’s population celebrates our proud multicultural history and will bring a boost to our bottom line, through GST payments,” he said.

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“A focus on regional migration and decentralisation are both great news for the Territory as we aim to not only sustainably attract and retain the population we desperately need, but deliver the jobs for people to move here for.”

While echoing calls for more detail on how the plan would be enforced, NT Chamber of Commerce chief executive Greg Bicknell said it was a good idea “on the face of it” but urged the Commonwealth to address barriers for migrants already seeking to make the Territory home.

“Anything that can be done to encourage more migration into the NT is very welcome but how they would encourage people to come to the NT will be interesting,” he said.

“I would actually like to see some more work done around looking at those people who are already here on temporary visas and seeing if there is more ways that there could be quicker progression through to permanent residency for them.”

NT Congolese Community president Edouard Ndjamba Ndjoku said while Darwin was a good place to raise a family, access to employment and services was crucial to migrants sticking around.

“I think that problem is a serious matter because when someone comes as a new arrival they can make more mistakes because they were not advised by people,” he said.

“Someone who is a new arrival, you don’t know about how the system works to get a job and no one will help you.”

Speaking on ABC radio yesterday, Mr Tudge said while incentivising foreign workers to move away from the east coast capitals would be “a relatively straightforward thing”, the government still hadn’t ironed out the “exact details”.

“Even today, if you’re coming here on a work visa then you obviously have a condition about being sponsored by that particular employer,” he said.

“Nearly every visa has conditions attached to it, so it wouldn’t be unusual to have a geographic attachment to a particular visa.”