FECCA Regional Migration Policy. February 2010

Transcription

1 FECCA Regional Migration Policy February 2010 Aims of FECCA FECCA is the national peak body representing Australians from diverse multicultural backgrounds. We provide advocacy, develop policy and promote issues on behalf of our constituency to government and the broader community. FECCA supports multiculturalism, community harmony, social justice and the rejection of all forms of discrimination and racism. FECCA s membership comprises state, territory and regional multicultural and ethnic councils. FECCA has an elected executive committee and a professional national secretariat implementing policies and work programs on behalf of its membership and stakeholders. 2 Why a Policy for Regional Migration? Australia is a show-case to the world on the effective settlement of migrants and refugees and multiculturalism in practice. More than 2.4 million Australians live outside major cities and inner regional areas; of these some 15 per cent were overseas born. Regional migration presents different challenges for the host society and incoming migrants and refugees and it is important such settlement is informed around proactive policies and best practice in regional settlement strategies.

2 Australia s regional migration policy should reflect our multicultural society and significant levels of cultural diversity, demonstrating principles of equity, participation, belonging and non-discrimination as part of Australia s national policies and priorities. Australia has a high migrant intake and many migrants settle in regional areas. Australia is facing both recent and older migrant issues; which are separate policy issues requiring different responses. Although there are many similar challenges facing both people who live in metropolitan and rural areas, there are also marked differences and the strategies needed to address these issues may differ considerably. Living in rural, regional and remote Australia does have lifestyle advantages for those who prefer rural life. Immigrants are drawn to regional Australia for lifestyle and job opportunities. Also the cost of living may be more affordable and low skilled job opportunities may be more readily available. However some of the disadvantages for people living in rural locations are: Lower quality, remote or unavailable health services. Generally, people who live outside our major cities have poorer health outcomes which is largely due to reduced access to health services Health status is, at the population level, directly linked to personal wealth. Rural Australians are generally poorer than those who live in the capital cities Rates of completed suicides are higher in rural communities, as is morbidity associated with psychiatric illness and poor mental health In many rural communities there are high levels of unemployment and some job discrimination. Many smaller rural communities are in decline and the populations are ageing Large numbers of welfare recipients have relocated to rural areas because the cost of living is less expensive, however, this has created disadvantaged communities which can cause alienation, isolation and exclusion Government and private sector infrastructure may have been reduced Telecommunications, education and other vital forms of human service infrastructure are may be of a lower standard Social and cultural isolation which can result in anti-social behaviour. Not having local knowledge or high level English skills may exacerbate these disadvantages for some regional migrants.

3 3 Specific Issues Now Facing Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Background (Multicultural) Communities In Rural Australia These largely mirror the problems listed above: Lower quality human service infrastructure (eg settlement services and mainstream services providing assistance targeted to diverse community needs) Social isolation (for both individuals and small communities) Racism, labelling and stereotyping Difficulty with finding employment, or avoiding exploitation (particularly for seasonal workforce) and Limited access to the cultural and religious institutions necessary for the preservation and celebration of heritage and identity. The Scanlon Foundation report Mapping Social Cohesion 2009, the second round of a longitudinal survey of social cohesion in Australia, showed that there is a less positive response amongst residents outside the capital cities to cultural diversity. This indicates there is much work to be done around building greater social cohesion and community harmony in rural, regional and remote Australia. 4 Policy Goals Support strong, economically and environmentally sustainable infrastructure for regional communities Encourage regional development through the settlement of immigrant and refugees in regional Australia, and to assist this settlement with effective and integrated services Promote and invite suggestions for improvements in the human services and private sector infrastructure in regional Australia to better support the quality of life and opportunities for people living in rural or remote communities Advocate and promote acceptance and celebration of cultural diversity in regional communities, and Improve networks, participation, understanding and communication between FECCA affiliates and members across Australia around issues relating to regional development and their interface with other priority areas for the organisation such as environmental and sustainable population policies.

4 5 STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES The aims of the policy affirms respect for the values, beliefs and practices of individuals and groups in regional and rural communities with: diverse cultural backgrounds and practices diverse religions and belief systems diverse race, ethnicity and language The overall goals of this policy are based on four principles: Inclusiveness - demonstrating that diversity is relevant to every individual, groups and communities living in the regional Australia Community harmony - fostering the benefits of culturally and linguistically diverse groups in regions, facilitating common understanding of cultural diversity to regional communities and to strongly support antidiscrimination measures and the due recognition of citizenship rights and responsibilities by all Australians Social inclusion - ensuring resources are fairly distributed and that multicultural communities are consulted about decisions pertaining to local government policies, functions, and service delivery, together with the recognition of the rights and responsibilities of all people in the region Economic and Cultural Opportunities - ensuring local governments promote the benefits of multiculturalism in their region to enrich communities through social and cultural activities. 6 General Issues The Australian Government since the 1990s has been encouraging new immigrants to settle in regional and rural Australia through a number of initiatives. This regionalisation of immigration policy has been implemented through a range of visa pathways which aim to attract immigrants with a range of skills aims to regional and rural Australia. It seeks to help ameliorate address population and labour shortages in the Australian bush. Retaining as well as attracting new immigrants to small rural townships and rural communities has been identified as the key challenge (Colins/Krivokapic-Skoko 2007). Family connections, job opportunities and life style are three major reasons given by immigrants settling in regional and rural areas as reasons for living where they live. The single most important factor regional and rural immigrants complain about are inadequate amenities (Colins/Krivokapic-Skoko 2007).

5 Encouraging regional settlement is a sound ideal. However, it must be underpinned by adequate planning and funding for rural development. Some immigrants who initially settle in regional and rural areas are not obtaining adequate support and settlement services. After a brief period in a rural location these immigrants move to metropolitan areas where they find that better services (specialist and mainstream) are available and where it is more likely that they ll find people from similar cultural backgrounds. Some of the issues faced by individuals and families from diverse multicultural backgrounds settling in rural Australia are: limited knowledge about services available limited information on how to access services poorly planned settlement services for new and old migrants limited education opportunities for diverse communities inadequate funding of some initiatives in regional areas unemployment, particularly of young adults problems with housing and cultural awareness 7 Strategies and Stakeholders FECCA is committed in developing an effective policy on regional migration. FECCA s policy regional migration is informed by residents from diverse multicultural backgrounds in regional Australia and others with expertise, direct knowledge and experience of the issues in government, business, universities and the wider community. 8 Regional universities and International Students FECCA supports the continued funding, development and growth of regional universities and supports the international students who attend these universities. International students provide economic stimulus to regional areas and add to the cultural diversity and dynamism of regional Australia Greater support needs to be given to international students in regional Australia including in cultural orientation and in community harmony and safety initiatives. 9 Older Migrants in Regional Australia Many migrants in regional Australia are ageing and are facing an aged care system that may not be culturally competent. This can cause isolation and reduced access to much needed aged care services. Greater work needs to be done in ensuring regional aged care services are reaching out to ageing migrant communities and delivering culturally sensitive services.

6 10 Transport issues Despite improvement of metropolitan transport services, the transport issues in rural areas still need attention. Some parts of the regions do not have tarmac roads and therefore during wet season these routes are very unsafe to drive. Some of the tarmac roads are not regularly repaired from pot holes and eroded edges and as such has caused some road fatalities. The air services between regional towns and metropolitan areas are limited and costly. Air transport may only be the means of transport because of the distances between towns. Trains and buses are equally limited and had to be booked in some cases well in advance, which does not support any unexpected travel to metropolitan areas for treatment by medical specialists, etc. Mobile telephones are not accessible in all of regional Australia. This limitation imposes a severe restriction to call for services. The in-availability of broadband in some rural areas restricts the residents from accessing the wide range of internet and television programs. FECCA supports current Australian Government plans to extend broadband coverage in the regions through a National Broadband Network. 11 Rural adjustment - The Murray Darling Basin There is a significant rate adjustment underway across Australia. There is no better example than the Murray Darling Basin. The Murray Darling Basin Authority is developing strategies to engage with 2.2 million stakeholders in order to undertake its work to manage the Basin s water resources in the national interest. The Murray Darling Basin Authority has the responsibility under the Water Act 2007 which includes the development of an integrated water resource plan for the Murray Darling Basis that will restore to heath the major river system so that it can sustain its environment, enhance and maintain the services it provides and support the communities and industries that depend on it. This is a significant challenge not undertaken anywhere in the world. It is crucial that stakeholders from a multicultural background have the opportunity to be involved in the process which will impact not only on their lives but on subsequent generations. Similarly, significant efforts must be made on behalf of diverse multicultural communities in other areas of the country undergoing significant rural adjustment.

7 12 Good practice models and supporting what works in communities Multicultural communities are resilient and well placed to respond to local issues and larger structural issues like the impact of the global financial crisis through networks established between communities, business, local, state and federal government and various community interests. Ethnic Communities Councils and Multicultural Community Councils facilitate such networks. Multiculturalism is inclusive, encompassing alls Australians including indigenous communities, long-established and immigrant communities. There are many examples of good practice models in regional Australia building community relations with Australians from multicultural backgrounds. In regional Victoria, Mildura hosted an equinox multi-faith gathering, and there is much Muslim/Christian dialogue. Shepparton has a multi-faith group supporting community interaction. Bendigo has had forums promoting awareness of Islam initiated by local churches. Bendigo has held forums to tackle racism and ignorance. In Mildura, information sessions on anti-discrimination have been organised by Victoria Policy Multicultural Advisory Unit. Mt Isa s migrant s women s group endeavours to build awareness at a local level and there is an annual multicultural festival for the whole community. In addition to such multi-faith, multicultural and educational initiatives, regional communities have made their own unique contributions, including the work of the advocacy group, Rural Australians for Refugees and work such as that of the Gippsland Peace Network. 13 Conclusion FECCA s regional migration policy aims to develop good practice models in rural and regional areas supporting Australians from diverse multicultural backgrounds. Successful regional migration and settlement policy requires considered attention by policy makers. There is no one size fits all policy prescription. Migrants are attracted to regional and rural areas by factors such as employment opportunities, cost of living and housing affordability, country lifestyle, presence of family or friends of the same ethnic or religious background. Attracting and retaining migrants and refugees in regional areas requires suitable employment options, educational opportunities, health, housing availability, local community support, training of service providers,

8 information on access to services, planned settlement services and program funding. It requires close collaboration of all those involved and the sharing of best practice models between different regional areas, government and agencies.

9 References Collins, J & Krivokapic-Skoko, B 2009, Attraction and Retention of New Immigrants in Regional and Rural Australia, Literature Review and National Survey 2008, RIRDC Publication, Barton ACT Markus, A 2009, Mapping Social Cohesion 2009, The Scanlon Foundation Surveys, Monash University, Victoria Managing the Impact of Global Crisis Events on Community Relations in Multicultural Australia, 2007 School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University, and Australian Multicultural Foundation, MAQ and VMC Edwards, B et al, 2009, The tyranny of distance? Carers in regional and remote areas of Australia, Prepared for Carers Australia by the Australian Institute of Family Studies

10 Appendix A Definition of a regional community There are 2.4 million Australians living outside major cities and innerregional areas. Geographical remoteness is based on the standard ABS approach of dividing Australian into five areas according to their degree of remoteness: Major cities Inner regional Outer-regional Remote Very remote. The word regional is used to mean rural community, ie a non-metropolitan community. The definition of the term rural is very contextual and varies among countries. In the Australian context there are three definitions of rural. Firstly, the Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas (RRMA) classification refers mainly to population estimates. Rural includes large rural centres (population between and people, as RRMA 3), small rural centres (population to as RRMA 4) and other rural areas (< people, as RRMA 5). Remote refers to remote centres (population of 5000 as RRMA 6) and other remote centres (< 5000 people, as RRMA 7). Metropolitan includes capital cities (RRMA 1) or other metropolitan areas (RRMA 2) with population of 100,000. Therefore under the RRMA definition for the rural policy, rural refers to places that are classified as RRMA 3,4,5,6 and 7 only. The second definition, the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA), is a measure of accessibility to services. This definition refers to remoteness according to access goods and services. It refers to areas that are highly accessible, accessible, moderately accessible, remote very restricted accessibility and very remote very little accessibility. Under this definition for the rural policy, it includes places that are only moderately accessible, very restricted accessibility and very little accessibility. The third definition, the Australian Standard Geographic Classification (ASGC), groups areas with similar characteristics. It includes only places that are those on the outskirts of major cities, remote, very remote and migratory places.

11 Therefore, in the policy document the term regional community refers to those under any of the three given definitions, i.e. under 100,000 people, or places that only moderately and restricted accessible to services or places that are away from the outskirts of major cities.