THERE is a mismatch between what regional communities need for successful migration and settlement, and some of the structures governments have put in place. That is one of the key points leaders of services based in Mildura, Bendigo and Shepparton conveyed during a symposium about regional migration and multiculturalism.
Latrobe University conducted a one-day symposium in Bendigo on 12 November 2019 which explored research and practice insights for socially sustainable regional migration and multiculturalism. The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District participated in this event.
Sitting on the first panel of the day, they explored potential and challenges associated with regional and rural migration. Panellists said more resources needed to be directed into the regions, in line with the government’s intention to boost regional migration.
“We don’t want people just to arrive, we want them to thrive,” Ms Graves said. She said there were opportunities to better understand the back-stories of people arriving in the community, along with their strengths and aspirations. “The settlement model needs to be applicable to… those people the settlement model is addressing,” Ms Graves said.
Panellists identified employment as one of the biggest issues for newly arrived families. Yet, Mr Wickham said there were challenges associated with linking people in with industry. He raised concerns that the policies in place created a pipeline to welfare, rather than opportunities for those who were ready and able to work to be able to do so. “We’re actually not taking a strength-based approach,” Mr Wickham said.
It could also be difficult for families seeking to move into regional or rural settings from metropolitan areas to access relocation assistance, Mr Wickham said. He said: “The policy space needs to catch up with what industry is doing.”
Services such as Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council were constantly trying to unravel policies relevant to the experiences of newly arrived families, some of which Mr Wickham said were not technically about migration. “If we are going to plan settlement into the future we need to look at all the other policies surrounding that,” Mr Wickham said.
Ms Graves said the structures to assess and re-assess a newly arrived person’s employability needed to change, as ‘many of our people are not assessed accurately’. “When you come in you want to go like a rocket. You come out with a grading test that works against you time and time again,” she said. “It does create homelessness, it is as simple as that.” Ms Graves said the systems surrounding health services also needed to change to better address the needs of newly arrived families, including supporting patients in need of ongoing care to engage with clinicians.
Mr Atukorala highlighted the importance of fostering a sense of belonging to retain newly arrived families in regional communities. “I didn’t have that sense of belonging when I first arrived in Shepparton,” he said. He said it was important families had opportunities to establish themselves. Panellists said that included creating opportunities for partners of skilled migrants.
“We’ve got an untapped resource,” Mr Wickham said.
