NEW skills, fresh ideas, entrepreneurial drive and able hands make Australia’s immigration intake an increasingly important for the bush, according to a new report from the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
The New Immigrants Improving Productivity in Australian Agriculture report was undertaken by RIRDC to fill a knowledge gap which the report said had developed “despite the increasing importance” of new permanent and temporary immigrants to Australian agriculture in particular and to the revitalisation of regional and rural Australia in general”.
The report said many immigrant groups have strong entrepreneurial streak, providing an important source of business creation. For example, 15 per cent of skilled immigrants in agricultural established their own business, compared to a nation-wide average of 10pc.
Immigration also provides, at least in part, a solution to the ageing farm sector’s succession planning conundrum, the report said.
Skilled immigrants employed in agricultural sector jobs out-perform those in other Australian industries
In the bush, permanent and temporary immigrants coming to regional and rural Australia have grown over the past decade, with 22,260 permanent immigrants hitting a high of 2010-11. That figure dropped to 7941 in 2013-14, while employer-sponsored immigration hovers around 2500 each year.
At least 20,000 people (8.56pc) in the Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries in 2011 spoke a language other than English at home, an increase of around 2,000 or 11pc since 2006.
New and improved policies are needed to maximise the mutual benefits from rural and regional immigration, which has ramped-up since the latest statistics were made available from the 2011 Census. Regional Australia will also likely take a significant portion of the 12,000 refugees from the Syrian conflict.
The report recommended governments invest in new ways to boost immigration to rural and regional areas and suggested new measures for policy makers to follow:
- State and territory governments should be granted some control over immigration intake by federal government, to better target skills and people shortages.
- Immigrants with farming experience and skills should be targeted by immigration programs and the number of settlement opportunities for refugees in rural and regional Australia should be boosted.
- Permanent immigrants should be directed to non-urban settlement, by providing applicants more points for regional and rural settlement and adding agricultural sector jobs to the list of occupations in demand.
“The strong finding is that on nearly every economic and social indicator… new skilled immigrants employed in agricultural sector jobs out-perform those in other Australian industries,” the report said.
Skilled immigrants cited friendly communities, good job opportunities, services and lifestyle as key benefits of life in the bush. A “very encouraging” rate of three in four respondents to a RIRDC survey of 1000 immigrants intended to remain in their current location.
Good jobs, a warm welcome to town contributed to the response of 90pc of skilled ag immigrants that “believed that the decision to immigrate to Australia was the right one”.
The report found that most farm industries hover around 80pc of Australian born workers – including cropping and grazing industries, but some agricultural industries had a far-higher rate. For example, over 35pc of mushroom and vegetable workers are non-English speakers. 15pc of nursery and flower production workers are non-English speakers.
