Toowoomba named a migration hotspot by Regional Australia Institute ahead of 2032 framework

Toowoomba has been named a migration hotspot of Australia, as city-dwellers flee capitals for greener pastures. And there are plans to supercharge this growth by 2032.

Toowoomba is one of the most in-demand regions for people fleeing the capital cities and is poised for more growth if key issues are addressed.

That’s the view of the Regional Australia Institute’s Liz Ritchie, who said Queensland had been the major beneficiary of regional migration since Covid-19 began.

The CEO of the RAI used Thursday’s Rising Regions conference in Thursday to launch the institute’s road map to “rebalancing the nation” by fixing lopsided populations and outcomes for city and regional communities.

Her keynote address revealed Toowoomba had been one of the 10 most popular migration destinations for capital-city dwellers — one of five regional centres in Queensland on the list.

However, she revealed Australia’s regional centres wouldn’t thrive without a bipartisan and multilateral approach to reforms, which included improving housing, jobs and skills, immigration and building resilience.

Regional Development Minister Glenn Butcher with Regional Australia Institute CEO Liz Ritchie in Toowoomba.

“We know you can’t solve the jobs crisis without addressing housing, you can’t solve the skills deficit without improving education standards,’ she said.

“We know healthcare cannot be improved without focusing on digital connectivity and we can’t lift productivity without fixing all of the above.

“The RAI has set out a goal to see more than 11 million people living prosperously in our regions by 2032 – that’s 500,000 more than current estimates.

“Over the next decade, RAI has a vision for the opportunities, services and lifestyles in our regions to be on par or better than urban Australia.”

New data highlighted at the event also showed Toowoomba has more than 2000 job vacancies across its economy, with a large chunk of them (566) for roles in the professional sector.

Other key roles facing shortages included for labourers, tradespeople, community and personal service workers and clerical staff.

Ms Ritchie told said the RAI’s 10-year plan, which involved all levels of government and industry, would focus on population, jobs and skills, liveability, productivity and resilience.

She said Toowoomba was a model for other regional communities in terms of liveability outcomes, arguing its local leaders had an important role to play in executing the 2032 plan.

Regional Australia Institute CEO Liz Ritchie addresses the Rising Regions conference at the Oaks Toowoomba.

“The purpose of the plan is to provide a holistic national framework, so the opportunity is for communities to bring it to life,” Ms Ritchie said.

“We’ve created a national framework that can be adopted at a local level — there are already local leaders who were in the room today who want to adopt this with local data.

One of the things that’s exciting about Toowoomba is it’s inland, if you look at the top 10 most of the in-demand communities are coastal.

“In terms of optimising its location, it’s got a great liveability story — most communities would be thrilled to have the diversity of education Toowoomba has.”

Other speakers at the event included state regional development minister Glenn Butcher, Senator Anthony Chisholm, TSBE CEO Ali Davenport, UniSQ vice-chancellor Geraldine Mackenzie and Virgin Orbit’s Janice Starzyk.