As per the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, the DAMA will attract and settle more skilled workers in Townsville and the North Queensland region and help effectively handle the economic challenges.
After two years of long restrictions, Australia is now able to reopen its international borders due to the successful country-wide vaccination drive. In 2020, Australia imposed some of the world’s strictest travel restrictions due to COVID-19. The reopening of borders will encourage joyous family reunions, international students and skilled workers, and most importantly, Australia’s multi-billion-dollar travel industry.
It was essential for the current Australian government to address the critical skill shortages and drive more investment to boost the economy, especially after the pandemic. The budget for FY 2022-23 is one of the steps from the government to bring the skilled migration flow to its pre-pandemic condition. From July 2022 to June 2023, the government will reinstate Migration Program planning levels to 160,000, divided into two main categories: skilled stream planning and family stream planning.
To attract skilled migrants, the Australian government has declared Perth and Gold Coast as new regional areas. With this new addition, the list of regional areas now includes Gold Coast, Perth, Canberra, Sunshine Coast, Lake Macquarie, Illawarra, Geelong, Newcastle, Wollongong, Adelaide, and Hobart. The change will bring more international students and skilled workers to Gold Coast and Perth and is expected to boost economic growth.