The federal government's new incentives to attract skilled migrants and international students to regional areas have been praised, but migration and urban planning experts say the policy will make no difference to congestion in the major cities.
Announcing a on Wednesday - as well as incentives to redirect newly-arrived workers and students to the regions - Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was about “busting congestion”.
“I want Australians to spend less time in traffic and more time with their families, being able to get on site or get to work sooner and safer,” Mr Morrison said.
But Peter Phibbs, professor of urban planning at the University of Sydney, said that was wishful thinking.
“Politicians spend their lives saying that they’re going to do something that will bust congestion in Australia’s large cities but unfortunately they’re mostly fairytales and this one is one of those,” he told SBS News.
The government should focus more on drastic ways to shift people out of their cars and onto trains and buses, he said.
Migration and planning experts say cutting migration won't reduce congestion. Source: AAP
“Migration is not the reason why we’ve got congestion in cities. We haven’t kept up with the growth in our cities, particularly on the public transport side, so blaming migrants for congestion is not fair or reasonable based on the evidence.”
Temporary entrants dwarfing permanent migrants
While the annual permanent migration cap will be lowered by 30,000 - in-line with the number of visas granted in the last two years - the number of temporary entrants is rising.
The number of temporary migrants, including international students, working holidaymakers and those on bridging visas, is at a record high of 2.3 million.
Excluding travellers and people on “special” visas, that figure still remains above one million.
UTS social economic professor Jock Collins said there was too much focus on the permanent migration intake.
The number of people in Australia on temporary visas is at a record high. Source: AAP
“There’s nothing to see here,” he told SBS News. “This very minor change will have no impact on congestion in Sydney and Melbourne or other places.”
“There’s a very selective analysis about some aspects of immigration policy that are dressed in a populist message through the headlines that really distorts what’s happening with the whole immigration program.”
The federal government’s plan also falls well short of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s call for a 50 per cent cut to Howard-era migration levels.
Incentives to go regional ‘worthwhile’
Nearly 90 per cent of the skilled migrants who moved to Australia in the last financial year settled in Melbourne or Sydney.
In a bid to encourage more new arrivals to live outside those two cities, the government will triple the number of visas requiring people to live and work in regional cities. After the three years, they’ll be eligible for permanent residency.
Immigration Minister David Coleman said of the incentive on Wednesday: "By linking the requirement that a person stays in a regional area for three years to their permanent residency, we will see a very, very high level of compliance with that requirement".
Additionally, as an incentive for international students to study at regional universities, they will be able to work for one year in Australia after they graduate.
Professor Collins said that strategy would be effective.
“You use the carrot, not the stick, if you want people to move to other areas.”
“There are no internal borders in Australia, there’s no way that anyone is forced to live or stay in an area, there’s no internal passports, so basically you’ve got to use the carrot approach.
“And the carrot approach is, stay there, stay working there, stay studying there and you will get for the skilled worker, the offer of permanent residency after three years and for the international student, working in Australia for 12 years after you graduate. And that’s quite attractive.”
Professor Phibb described the regional approach as worthwhile but predicted many students would still choose to study in Melbourne and Sydney.
“While there are some excellent regional universities across the country, a lot of students are just lured by the more established universities in the larger cities.”
