For many months, the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) has been talking about the skills shortage we have in our towns and cities across the country. In May, new figures released by the Department of Jobs and Small Business show there are more than 44,600 vacancies.
With that in mind, it was with great pleasure that we were able to recently launch in Adelaide, Steps to Settlement Success – a toolkit for rural and regional communities.
This toolkit gives a step-by-step action plan for local leaders wanting to grow population and fill vacancies through migration. Already, the response to our toolkit has surpassed our expectations. But it’s the people who gave up their time and provided heartfelt responses to help build this toolkit who we must thank – as well as the Scanlon Foundation.
Without the generosity of the Scanlon Foundation, this resource could not have been possible.
For several months, our co-developer Emmanuel Musoni interviewed dozens of ‘community champions’ across the country, to find out the pitfalls, and the ‘must-haves’ for regional settlement. Their hard work, and the lessons they learned have been captured in this toolkit and is now available for others to use.
We must also thank South Australian Primary Industries Minister, The Hon. Tim Whetstone for launching Steps to Settlement Success, at our Regions Rising SA event. The toolkit is now available in our newsletter below.
And finally, we are very pleased to announce a new member to our team, with the appointment of Shyla Vohra as our new Migration Director. Shyla Vohra will lead our migration roadshow which is aimed at partnering with up to eight regional communities to investigate their own regional settlement programs.
Next month, the RAI will be in Melbourne. We’ll be talking Regional Population Growth – Are you ready? Tickets are on sale now! Grab your seats today.
Liz Ritchie & Kim Houghton
co-CEOs, Regional Australia Institute
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