Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Sunday said the government is looking at encouraging migrant workers to settle in regional cities to tackle housing affordability at property hot-spots like Sydney and Melbourne.
Treasurer Scott Morrison has made tackling housing affordability the centerpiece of the May 9 budget, reports.
Mr Dutton said a lot of work has been done between his department, Treasury and Finance to have a look at the economic impact of people settling in Sydney or Melbourne in terms in terms of infrastructure and housing supply.
“And there are ways that we are looking at, that we might be able to provide support to people, to choose a regional city for example, if there’s work there,” Mr Dutton told on Sunday.
He said the migration intake should be driven by what's in the national interest and that the numbers fluctuate in tandem with the economy as demand for foreign labour will wax and wane.
He said that most migrants chose to go to capital cities because they’re either chasing work, or they’ve got family, or an expat community there.
“The argument is how could we marry them up with regional communities, where there is a supply of work, where there is an ability to send kids to school and to be a part of community.
“Living in regional towns is a great way to raise a family, great way to be involved more intimately in the life of that community and housing and cost of living otherwise has the potential to be much cheaper than living in a capital city,” Mr Dutton said.
