MIGRANTS make an incredible contribution to Australia.

In fact, there are more than 7 million migrants living in Australia helping to stimulate growth, create more jobs and slow the ageing of the Australian population.

Every town and suburb in Australia has their own migrant success stories.

Many of our smaller cities and regional areas, however, cannot fill the jobs available - with an estimated 60,000 job vacancies in regional Australia today.

A federal parliamentary committee is hitting the road to find out what can be done to increase the number of migrants moving to regional areas to fill these gaps and ease the pressure on our major capital cities.

Joint Standing Committee on Migration chair Julian Leeser MP said the inquiry has been prompted by recent trends indicating declining population growth in some regional areas of Australia.

While approximately 187,000 international migrants settled in regional areas between 2006 and 2011, this accounts for only 20 percent of arrivals in that period, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

"What we know is that some areas of Australia are having success attracting new migrants, while other areas are struggling to both attract and retain migrants and address skill shortages," Mr Leeser said.

"The answers to how to attract new settlers won’t be found in our big cities – so we’re going to travel to areas where migration settlement is and isn’t working, and talk to the people best placed to know why and why not."

Mr Leeser is encouraging people to contribute to the process. Submissions to the inquiry will be accepted until September 20, 2019.

The Committee intends to hold public hearings at various locations, which will be announced in due course on the inquiry website.

The terms of reference for the inquiry are:

The Joint Standing Committee on Migration shall inquire into and report on the breadth of migrant settlement strategies and migration settings – including for skilled and humanitarian migrants – in regional Australia, with reference to:

• National and international best practice strategies to encourage people to settle and stay in regional areas;
• Strategies to develop regional skilled migration;
• Strategies to develop regional humanitarian migration;
• Key local, state and federal initiatives for successful regional settlement outcomes;
• Local volunteers, employers and community organisations and their role in facilitating regional settlement;
• Relevant migration policy, including administration and state specific migration mechanisms;
• Related infrastructure matters; and
• Any other related matter.

The Committee shall give particular consideration to how communities and settlement services can best assist migrants to gain successful employment outcomes in regional Australia, including local work experience opportunities, skills certification and training, knowledge of Australian workforce regulations, accommodation and travel to and from the workplace

INVESTMENT in transport infrastructure will help bridge the troubled waters of a declining housing market and softening commercial construction sector but there is zero doubt that more needs to be done to fast-track construction activity and ignite economic growth, according to Master Builders Australia.

“The latest industry forecast predicts that the government’s ramping up of investment in transport infrastructure will drive up the volume of civil construction work from $92.42 billion in 2019 to nearly $104 billion in 2022,” Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said.

 “This $92.6 billion increase will kick the volume of civil construction work up by 12.5 percent over the next couple of years and this is obviously good news for our industry, the economy and the community.

“We are hopeful that investment in urban infrastructure, including projects encompassed in the Government’s Cities Deals, will help to unlock new housing supply and moderate falls in the residential building sector which is forecast to be down 28 percent from its peak by 2020/21,” Ms Wawn said. 

“So while we commend and support the government’s infrastructure agenda, there is no doubt more needs to be done. As the Reserve Bank Governor has consistently noted, more infrastructure investment not only adds to demand in the economy and boosts productivity but construction activity needs to actually commence before this occurs – nothing happens if projects languish on lists.

“Infrastructure Australia’s 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit points to a committed forward pipeline of $200 billion but also highlights measures that must be considered to accelerate its roll out,” Ms Wawn said. 

“To overcome capacity constraints, fast track construction activity and better realise the benefits to local economies and communities, governments must urgently adopt more sophisticated procurement models that ease the almost overwhelming reliance on a small number of Tier One contractors, unlock the capacity of Tier Two and Tier Three contractors and facilitate local contractors and small businesses working on local projects,” she said. 

“Big is not always better so good on the Prime Minister for backing this measure today,” Ms Wawn said. 

“There must also be a strong focus on investing in the development of more skilled trades people needed to construct the pipeline of infrastructure projects. Master Builders strongly backs the Federal Government’s commitment to reform the vocational education sector including improving its brand so that the erroneous perceptions of young people, parents and careers advisers don’t act as barrier to recruiting the best and brightest into trades where there skills shortages such as building and construction,” she said. 

“A highly skilled workforce will also be needed to meet future demand for social infrastructure such as hospitals, education and aged care facilities. It’s pleasing to see this category is now more of a focus for the nation’s infrastructure planners."

www.masterbuilders.com.au

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THE Queensland Resources Council has welcomed the appointment of a senior government official to a new position of global investment commissioner with the State Government’s Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ).

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the appointment of former Trade and Investment commissioner to Japan Ross Buchanan as global investment commissioner within TIQ was a practical step that could support the government’s desire to attract more international investment in the development of Queensland’s resources and energy reserves, including renewables.

Mr Macfarlane said the industry had been working with the government and TIQ to further strengthen its TIQ Mining, Resources and Energy team and connect the resources industry with the 12 Trade and Investment commissioners representing the state around the world.

“A shared priority for the Queensland Government and industry is to lift the perception of Queensland as an attractive place to invest," Mr Macfarlane said. "Unfortunately, in February this year, the Fraser Institute global survey of mining companies found Queensland’s investment attractiveness fell from 12th to 13th place of 83 jurisdictions around the world.  Queensland’s Sister State of Nevada is number one.

“The appointment of Ross Buchanan gives our industry a global investment commissioner with experience in a key market and source of investment for our industry – Japan – and first-hand experience working with Macarthur Coal and Peabody Energy.”

Mr Macfarlane said with the resources sector employing more than 316,000 Queenslanders, delivering 81 percent of the state’s record $87 billion export earnings over the last 12 months and contributing more than $5 billion in royalties to the State Government, new and continued investment in Queensland resources and energy projects was critical.

Mr Macfarlane said the QRC and its member companies looked forward to working with recently appointed TIQ chief executive officer Paul Martyn and Mr Buchanan to work on:

• developing a collaborative work program to deliver on the Premier’s “working together” commitments to the QRC to improve exports, exploration and expertise and address areas of declining sentiment identified by the Fraser Institute survey;

• releasing an update on the investment resources and energy project pipeline; and

•  providing regular briefings for TIQ and its commissioners based in markets around the world, including a joint meeting with all commissioners during Export Week in October.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) will hold two public hearings this week for its Inquiry into the impact of the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers on the freedom of the press.

The chair, Andrew Hastie MP, said, "The Committee has received numerous and varied submissions regarding the balance between national security, freedom of information and the media. These hearings will allow for the Committee to engage with the major media outlets, other media stakeholders, human rights and legal advocates, as well as the law enforcement, intelligence and other policy agencies.

"The impact and appropriateness of the use of law enforcement and intelligence powers is a legitimate concern to many. The Committee will carefully consider both concerns and statements of support."

Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee’s website.          

Public hearing details

Date: 13 August 2019
Time: 8.30am – 5pm
Location: Level 3 Conference Centre, Castlereagh Boutique Hotel, 169 Castlereagh St, Sydney

Date: 14 August 2019
Time: 8.30am – 5pm
Location: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

Programs for the hearings can be found here.

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