Regional Migration Agreements (RMAs) Introduced

Last Updated on Thursday, 19 May 2011

The Australian Government has announced that Regional Migration Agreements (RMAs) will become part of Australia’s overhauled temporary migration program.

The new initiative has been designed to bring together regional employers, local and state governments and unions to collectively consider and address local labour needs in rural Australia.

Many areas in regional Australia are currently experiencing a shortage of suitable labour, and in many cases face difficulty in attracting the needed labour supply to rural locations. Regional Migration Agreements are intended to address this problem in providing a coordinated and streamlined response to local labour needs in regional areas of Australia by helping to execute workforce strategies that support growth.

How will Regional Migration Agreements work?

Regional Migration Agreements will be geographically based migration agreements which are custom-designed to the current and anticipated labour needs of the local area to which it applies.

Regional Migration Agreements will set out how many overseas workers will be available to local employers in that area, and which occupations overseas workers may fill.

Each individual Regional Migration Agreement will be negotiated between the Australian Government and representatives of the local area involved. Local employers from that area will then be able to individually sponsor overseas workers to fill vacant positions under the agreed terms of the RMA covering that regional area of Australia.

RMAs will allow regional employers in Australia to access temporary and permanent overseas workers in instances where local labour supplies are not sufficient. However, Regional Migration Agreements will only be granted to those regional areas of Australia where a genuine lack of local labour can be demonstrated.

Communities and individual employers who sponsor overseas workers under an RMA will also be required to demonstrate they have made an ongoing investment in the training and up-skilling of the local Australian workforce to meet the anticipated future skill needs of that regional area.

Who will be eligible for an RMA?

High growth regional areas of Australia where labour is in short supply will be eligible for an RMA.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has advised that further information regarding the eligibility requirement for an RMA will be forthcoming shortly. We will report on this as soon as the information becomes available.

Processes for a Regional Migration Agreement

DIAC has stated that consultations for RMAs are expected to begin in the latter half of 2011. Official negotiations for individual RMAs between the Government and local area representatives are then expected to commence in 2012.

DIAC advises that more information about the consultation process for RMAs will be available on their website in the coming months.

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