Sustaining the regions: issues of international migration, settlement and ethnic diversity

Federal Government strategies to increase international migration to regional areas include regional skilled migration, increased business migration and approval of international students living in Australia for permanent residence. Injecting migrants into rural and regional areas raises fundamental questions about quality of services and infrastructure, nature of community outlook and potential to innovate and change, this paper says. It considers settlement issues, including lack of infrastructure and services, openness to cultural diversity and difference, settlement processes, the impacts of isolation in rural areas, and the elements of successful settlement to sustain the regions. The paper argues that progress for a better future regional policy requires efforts to build social capital and more understanding of the threads that connect the lives of people around employment, identity, belonging and inclusion.