A world-first study has been launched in New South Wales to explore how the labour needs of regional Australia could be met by a skilled refugee workforce.
Led by the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law and UNSW Business School, the project is a collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU), global NGO Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), and the thinktank, Regional Australia Institute (RAI).
It aims to investigate how small and medium-sized businesses in the regions can tap into a pool of refugees who may settle in these communities.
According to Liz Ritchie, CEO of RAI, one driving force behind the plan was the pressing need for skilled labour in the lead-up to Australia transitioning into a low-carbon economy.
Despite a 13.1 percent increase in national unemployment, Ms. Ritchie says regional jobs remain unfilled.
“Nearly 80,000 jobs have been advertised online across regional Australia each month this year, and there are around 40 percent more advertisements in the labour market now, compared to the monthly average for 2019,” she said.
“Skilled migrants can play a vital role in helping fill those positions.”
Ms. Ritchie emphasised that the move to net zero carbon emissions—which is proposed by 2050—will only increase the boon of regional economies, especially as people continue to leave large cities.
Recent data from the RAI shows that 24 percent more people are leaving big cities than moving to them.
The massive regional population boom has posed a problem for Australia’s regional areas.
A Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) report last year found homelessness had increased 29 percent in Queensland alone, with rental vacancy rates at an all-time low.
Statistics show entire families are living out of tents, in their cars, couch surfing, or sleeping rough—with Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick levelling some of the blame for the government’s $3 billion 2024-25 budget deficit on internal migration from within Australia, much of which has been to regional communities.
But supporters of the plan say it will rely upon the design of an evidence-based, scalable, employer-sponsored “displaced talent” migration program that will fit the needs of regional communities and refugees in need of “a safe new home.”
The project was launched in the regional NSW city of Wagga Wagga, coinciding with Refugee Week, and has received support from the Federal government through the Australian Research Council’s Linkage program.
The four-year initiative will involve research in every Australian state and territory.
Claire Higgins, Chief Investigator from UNSW’s Kaldor Centre, said the research could have significance for Australia’s contribution to global refugee protection and help ease the burden on other nations.
“By enabling some refugees to move onward and build new lives in Australia, skilled migration opportunities can ease the pressure on countries that are hosting many thousands of refugees,” she said.
“Our ground-breaking research will assess how the needs of employers and refugees can align, to scale a system that delivers social and economic benefits for Australia.”
Sally Baker, Chief Investigator from ANU, said that expanding skilled labour mobility was an important way of helping the Australian government realise its ambition to bring an additional 10,000 refugees through “complementary humanitarian pathways.”
“Sharing the opportunity of resettling talented and qualified refugees with employers in areas and professions that have critical gaps has huge potential to help shift the dial on many fronts,” she said.
“However, it requires careful attention to the communication of the opportunity, as well as developing and strengthening ‘arrival infrastructures’ in regional areas that are relatively new to resettling people with forced migration experiences, and this is what our study will examine.”
Jemma Bailey, Australia and New Zealand Co-Director of Talent Beyond Boundaries, said the research would draw on the experience of the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot, a program that opens skilled migration pathways to refugees and displaced people.
“There is an enormous depth of talent and skills within refugee communities that could bring vitality to regional communities and help to fill skills gaps faced by employers,” she said.
“We have over 100,000 skilled refugees registered on Talent Beyond Boundaries’ talent catalogue.”
“We are already working with employers in rural and regional towns around Australia who have recruited skilled refugees through the pilot and are seeing the benefits.”
“This research will be key to ensuring we have the right settings, supports, and collaborations in place so we can scale this job-matching to help meet the future workforce and community-building needs of regional Australia.”
The move comes as both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have vowed to lower Australia’s migrant intake amid pressures on housing and infrastructure.
Fieldwork relating to the refugee labour project is expected to get underway next month, with a final report due to be published in 2027.
