Entice migrants to regions rather than major cities, Tudge says

Minister for Population Alan Tudge says national growing pains are caused by migrants choosing to live in Melbourne and Sydney.

New Minister for Population Alan Tudge in Canberra. Picture: AAP

Australia’s new minister for population says the nation’s growing pains are caused by migrants choosing to live in Melbourne and Sydney and a backlog in major infrastructure rather than historically high immigration levels.

Alan Tudge, who will take responsibility for cities, urban infrastructure and the new population portfolio, says his two greatest challenges will be finding the right incentives and conditions to encourage more migrants to settle in smaller capital cities and regional areas, and accelerating national infrastructure.

A day after being handed the population portfolio, Mr Tudge said he was less wedded to a formal population target than the need to entice more migrants into cities such as Adelaide and regions “crying out for any warm body’’ to fill vacant jobs.

Mr Tudge believes falling public support for Australia’s large immigration program is a product of poor planning rather than Australia growing too fast.

“People are finding the trains are full and the roads are congested and people are blaming it purely on the growth rate when there is actually a number of issues at play,’’ Mr Tudge said.

“It is the distribution of the growth and the lack of infrastructure keeping up with that growth which is as much a cause as the overall, aggregate growth rate for the nation as a whole.

“We can’t determine the birthrate and we want people to live longer and we always make sure the immigration settings are in the national interest. Where we can do better is to try to get a broader distribution of migration rather than nearly all migrants going to Melbourne and Sydney.’’

Mr Tudge, in his previous citizenship portfolio, flagged a designated area migration scheme; a class of migrant visas that would require new arrivals to spend a period of time in a regional area or smaller city.

He cited the “city deals’’ planning frameworks adopted by Townsville, Launceston and western Sydney and business case studies being developed for three high-speed rail projects — Melbourne to Shepparton, Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast and Sydney to Newcastle — as examples of Canberra engaging with state and local governments to tackle population issues. “I am big believer in high-speed rail,’’ he said.

“We need to work fast. We need to get that infrastructure built as quickly as possible and we need to work with the states and territories in terms of broader planning and ideally, have levers where we can get more population growth in the regions and smaller cities.

“I have been to regions across Australia where they are crying out for any warm body to do the job. If we can get the distribution better, it will take pressure off the big capitals.’’

Greater Melbourne passed its own population milestone on Monday, officially recording resident number 5 million. If Melbourne and Sydney growth rates are maintained, both will be megacities of 10 million people midway through this century.

The creation of a population portfolio follows calls by the Productivity Commission and Infrastructure Australia to develop a population policy. The portfolio is grouped with infrastructure, transport and regional development rather than immigration.