Contrary to the popular belief in some parts of the world that international migrants take jobs away from Australians, by filling many of these positions and settling in regional areas, international migrants are actually helping create new jobs. By settling in regional communities, international migrants are also helping to provide stability to the local population and services as well as bringing more diverse and younger residents to these communities. In drawing on the RAI’s discussion paper, The Missing Migrants, this presentation outlines examples of successful regional settlement of international migrants. It highlights the importance of local government leadership and a grass-roots approach to tackling the perennial regional issues of population decline and long-term economic stability.

1. SETTLING
INTERNATIONAL
MIGRANTS IN REGIONAL
AUSTRALIA: A WIN-WIN
SCENARIO
Emily Longstaff
Senior Research Assistant
The Regional Australia Institute

2. OVERVIEW
• Benefits of international
migrants to regional
communities
• Examples of regional
settlement success
stories
• Starting the discussion
of how more regional
communities can take
action

4. Between 2006 and 2011
alone, 187,000 international
migrants arrived in Australia
and settled outside the
major capital cities.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Year of Arrival in Australia
(YARRP) by Local Government Areas (2011 Boundaries).

5. CONTRIBUTION OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS

7. POPULATION CHANGE (LGA
COUNTS)
2006-11 2011-16
METRO REGIONAL METRO REGIONAL
Overall population decrease 2 139 2 246
Overall population increase 125 294 116 175
Increase in both Australia-born and
overseas-born populations
115 278 101 128
Decrease in both Australia-born and
overseas-born populations
0 32 2 116
Increase in Australia-born and
decrease in overseas-born
0 14 3 20
Decrease in Australia-born and
increase in overseas-born
11 109 12 151

8. CASE STUDIES

9. CASE STUDIES Nhill

10. CASE STUDIES
Dulwallinu
Nhill

11. CASE STUDIES Nhill
Dulwallinu Mingoola

12. LESSONS FOR REGIONAL SETTLEMENT FROM
NHILL, DALWALLINU AND MINGOOLA

13. CLOSING REMARKS

14. REFERENCES
ABC (2015). ‘Nhill Karen refugee Ku Pow’. Available at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-24/ku-pow/6417914
ABC (2016) ‘A Field of Dreams’, Australian Story. Available at:
http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2016/s4563598.htm
ABC (2016). ‘Jonathan Kanani and Fainess Kabura's children’. Available at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-07/aust-story-mingoola-2/7990376
AMES and Deloitte Access Economics (2015) Small Towns Big Returns: Economic and
social impact of the Karen resettlement in Nhill. Available at:
https://www.ames.net.au/files/file/Research/19933%20AMES%20Nhill%20Report%2
0LR.pdf
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006, 2011) Census of Population and Housing. Canberra:
ABS.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011). Year of Arrival in Australia (YARRP) by Local
Government Areas (2011 Boundaries), Census of Population and Housing. Canberra:
ABS.
Hugo, G. and Harris, K. (2011) Population Distribution Effects of Migration in Australia.
Available at:
https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/research/full-
report.pdf
Novotny, J. and Hasman, J. (2015) The emergence of regional immigrant concentrations
in USA and Australia: A spatial relatedness Approach, PLoS ONE10(5): e0126793.
Regional Australia Institute (2015) Population Dynamics in Regional Australia. Available
at: http://www.regionalaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/FINAL-
Population-Dynamics-in-Regional-Australia.pdf
Shire of Dalwallinu (2014) Regional Repopulation Pilot Project Report. Available at:
http://www.dalwallinu.wa.gov.au/profiles/dalwallinu/assets/clientdata/document-
centre/regional_repopulation_pilot_project_report_-_final.pdf
State Library of WA (2014). ‘Migrants arriving at Fremantle, 1953’ (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The West Australian (2015). ‘World comes to Dalwallinu’. Available at:
https://thewest.com.au/countryman/news/world-comes-to-dalwallinu-ng-ya-
388829