South Australia is losing a very important battle — to win the hearts and minds of those migrating to Australia.
Tourism Minister David Ridgway said the State Government was committed to helping South Australia’s population grow through strategic skilled migration.
“SA’s population growth is less than half the national average — at just 0.7 per cent — and we must do what we can to stop the loss of some of our best and brightest to the eastern states,” he said.
In his submission to the inquiry, Migration Solutions SA chief executive Mark Glazbrook called on the State Government to introduce a visa program similar to the now defunct regional 457 visa that was scrapped in 2007.
He said the State Government needed to foster education opportunities for international students in the regions and promote SA as an “internationally recognised destination” for farming, agribusiness, viticulture and horticulture-related study.
In his submission, he said a new visa program could have conditions that would tie international students to a region for years.
“Utilising various visa conditions, cancellation provisions and monitoring the actions of visa holders is a very important integrity measure to reduce exploitation, ensuring the program is not used as a backdoor pathway for those seeking to live and work in Melbourne or Sydney,” he said.
As South Australia has 7 per cent of Australia’s population, the state should have received 7 per cent of migrants.
In comparison, SA got 4.4 per cent of migrants in 2017.
Job opportunities
Research undertaken by Deloitte Access Economics for the Department of State Development found one full-time job was created for every four international students in South Australia.
If 100,000 international students studied in regional South Australia, 2,500 jobs would be created — contributing $350 million annually to the economy.
This can potentially lead to more opportunities for international students!
Keep calm and let AGS assist you with your study and migration to Australia.
Source: ABC News