Population policy to steer migrants toward regional centres
A population policy with incentives for migrants to live in the regions is scheduled to be signed off as early as today.
A population policy that would include visa conditions on a specific number of new skilled migrants settling in cities other than Sydney or Melbourne is scheduled to be signed by cabinet as early as today.
The Australian understands the policy, which will include incentives to locate in regional centres, will apply to “general” skilled migrants who are given permanent residency under the points system.
It is believed the major policy that builds on the government’s moves to reduce the annual skilled migration last year to 162,000 — down from 190,000 under the former Labor government — will go to cabinet within the next two weeks, and as early as tonight.
It comes as the government’s former Infrastructure Australia boss Phil Davies warned that the country faced a looming productivity crisis with increasing road congestion slowing freight in and out of the major capitals
Mr Davies, who will today be appointed the chairman of the Australian Logistics Council after stepping down from IA last month, said freight movements were forecast to double in the next two decades. “Congestion on our roads is already having a major impact on the ability of freight logistics operators to meet customer expectations around rapid delivery,” Mr Davies writes in The Australian today.
“Even with substantial investments now being made in key freight infrastructure including Inland Rail, Western Sydney Airport, Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel, improvements to Queensland’s North Coast Rail Line, Tasmania’s new Bridgewater Bridge, South Australia’s GlobeLink initiative, the NorthLink project in Western Australia and Darwin’s new Freight Hub, our freight transport infrastructure may struggle to meet such demand.”
The Australian last week revealed that almost 90 per cent of all new permanent arrivals to Australia were settling in Melbourne and Sydney. Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge said of the 112,000 skilled migrants who arrived in the past financial year, 87 per cent had settled in Sydney or Melbourne.
Mr Davies has been an outspoken critics of government infrastructure policy, saying that governments at all levels had failed to plan properly for population growth. He said it would require politically “contentious” decisions in building infrastructure to cope with the demand for freight movements.
“Last week, Australia’s population hit 25 million people — some two decades sooner than was anticipated by the first Intergenerational Report issued in 2002. In effect, we are adding a population equal to the size of Canberra every year, and the pace shows no sign of abating,” Mr Davies writes.
“The essential items which most Australians take for granted in everyday life — food and drink, fuel, household appliances, clothing, medications and home deliveries of items bought on the internet, to name just a few — are generally not grown or manufactured close to the cities where most of us live.
“These products must be transported from their point of origin to the retailers from which we purchase them, or otherwise delivered directly to our doorsteps from ports, freight depots or warehouses.
“In an era where consumers can buy a major household appliance with a few taps on their smartphone and expect it to be delivered the next day, this poses an enormous challenge for our freight networks.’’