Traditional Migrant States Put In Shade

MIGRANTS from Britain and New Zealand are being lured to Queensland and Western Australia by the prospect of a sun-drenched lifestyle and lucrative jobs in booming mining economies. But settlers from India and China are still snubbing the resource-rich states and overwhelmingly preferring to head for the traditional migrant magnets of Sydney and Melbourne.

The United Kingdom and New Zealand have long been Australia’s top two source countries for permanent migrants, accounting together for almost a third of those who arrived between July and December last year.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s biannual immigration update shows that rather than heading for Australia’s most populous states, they chose instead to live in Queensland and WA.

Associate director commerce and industry with global recruitment firm Michael Page International, Robetr Lyster, said migrants from the UK and New Zealand were often seeking a life in the sun.

“When Poms think of coming to Australia, they often think of sunshine and good weather, so if they’re deciding between Brisband and Melbourne, that might attract them to Brisbane,” said Mr Lyster, who is based in Queensland.

“And of course the resources and construction boom means this also makes sense from an economic perspective.

“While Sydney’s great, they might perceive it as a mini-London and prefer to go somewhere with open spaces.”

Between them, the two resource-rich states, which are now the powerhouse of the national economy, attracted more than half of the 12,295 settlers from the UK who arrived from the UK who arrived during this time, while only athird chose to settle in NSW and Victoria.

Preferring Cottesloe beach to Bondi, their most popular destination was WA, where 3823 of the UK migrants settled, followed by Queensland, which attracted 2839, compared with 2261 who headed from NSW.

Almost half of the 9923 migrants arriving from NZ during the six months to December 2006 settled in Queensland – which was twice as many as named NSW as their intended residence.

By contrast, migrants from India and China – which were the next most significant source of settlers – still flocked to NSW and Victoria.

Of the Indian migrants who arrived during the six months, only 314 intended to live in WA and 394 were headed for Queensland, while 2418 chose NSW and 2286 opted for Victoria.

Mr Lyster speculated that, while the British were looking for sunshine and a lifestyle change, migrants from India and China preferred to live in a bustling big city.

Of course, Sydney and Melbourne are still the two largest business centers in Australia,” he said.

Overall, NSW and Victoria continue to attract the lion’s share of permanent migrants, despite the Kiwis and the British bucking the trend.

In the six-month period, almost a third of all settler arrivals intended to live in NSW, 24.5 per cent chose Victoria, 19.2 per cent headed for Queensland and 14 per cent for WA.
(The Australian Financial Review, 09/05/2007)