David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The New Skilled Regional Visas (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019 makes consequential amendments to legislation administered by the Department of Social Services, the Department of Education and the Attorney-General's Department. Specifically, the bill amends:

The bill will give effect to government policy that holders of new provisional skilled regional visas, which come into effect on 16 November 2019, will have access to government services consistent with skilled permanent visa holders.

The new provisional skilled regional visas are set out in the Migration Amendment (New Skilled Regional Visas) Regulations 2019.

They are:

These new visas are part of the Australian government's plan for Australia's future population to ease the pressure on the big capitals while supporting the growth of those smaller cities and regions that want more people. The plan includes reducing the annual migration ceiling from 190,000 to 160,000 places and, in addition, setting aside 23,000 of those places for these new regional visas.

The visas, introduced by regulations tabled in parliament on 2 July 2019, support regional economies to get the skills they need.

A key feature of the new visas is a requirement for regional migrants to live and work in a regional area for three years before being eligible for permanent residence.

This will encourage visa holders to remain in regional Australia, which in turn will support the local communities and enhance the economies of regional parts of the nation.

The amendments in this bill will ensure that holders of the new visas have access to government services in line with the current arrangements applicable to permanent residence visas.

These changes will have a low financial impact while ensuring that provisional skilled regional visa holders are not disadvantaged compared to holders of permanent skilled visas available for people to work in metropolitan areas.

Changes to legislation, service delivery and ICT systems—administered by the Department of Social Services, Services Australia, the Department of Education and the Attorney-General's Department—are required in order to give effect to the government's policy regarding holders of these new visas.

This would be subject to meeting the same eligibility requirements for the payments and services and serving the same applicable waiting periods that exist for permanent skilled visa holders.

These visa holders will be supporting local economies and contributing to rural and regional communities throughout Australia. I commend this bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.