CDU scholars help launch a national project on regional migrant settlement and retention
An ambitious four-year project aims to shed new light on how regional Australia settles and retains migrants.
The Whole-of-Community approaches to regional migration, settlement and retention project will explore the issue and how it impacts communities in South Australia, the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria.
Funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage grant led by Adelaide University, researchers from Charles Darwin University (CDU) will work with colleagues from La Trobe and Charles Sturt Universities, as well as state and local governments and peak migration bodies.
CDU Northern Institute demographer Professor Andrew Taylor, who is a Chief Investigator on the project, said regional policy still leans too heavily on attracting people and not enough on understanding why they might stay.
“Regional towns and communities cannot plan for their population and economic futures on attracting people through jobs alone, Professor Taylor said.
"Retention is about whether a place works for families, delivers a sense of belonging and has the necessary infrastructure to embed people in the community for the longer term.”
CDU Senior Lecturer in Social Work Dr Devaki Monani, also a Chief Investigator on the project, emphasised the community aspect of the project.
“A whole-of-community approach is about ensuring marginalised and vulnerable migrant voices are represented in place and policy building," Dr Monani said.
"This is particularly true for regional migrants where they may not have the luxury of longstanding community networks, and may rely heavily on the welcoming generosity of host communities.”
CDU Senior Lecturer in Social Science Dr Daile Rung, a Chief Investigator on the project, said community voice would sit alongside the population data.
“The numbers show movement,” Dr Rung said.
“Interviews show why a town feels possible or impossible to stay in. Community agreements and ethics come before we collect people's stories: what makes a place feel like home, how new arrivals are received, and how First Nations communities experience and shape that.”
The project was officially launched on Wednesday, 8 October, with representatives from the South Australian Government, Murray Bridge Council, Tatiara District Council, Indigenous community partners, the Australian Migrant Resource Centre and Welcoming Australia attending the launch in Adelaide.
"We'll use a combination of novel mixed methods across regional sites to explore migration and settlement dynamics from all sections of regional communities," lead Chief Investigator and Adelaide University Associate Professor David Radford said.
"It also includes Aboriginal communities as partners in the research, not simply as a backdrop to regional settlement.
"Our research team and partner organisations will work closely together to develop new knowledge and evidence-based insights of migrant experiences and community dynamics which will have the potential to shape future policy design, support migrant attraction and retention and strengthen regional development outcomes."
Northern Territory partners are amongst 16 partner organisations nationally.
These include the Department of Trade, Business and Asian Relations, Melaleuca Australia, Multicultural Community Services of Central Australia. Alice Springs Town Council and the City of Darwin, while national partners include Welcoming Australia and the Australian Migrant Resource Centre.