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THE Australian Government has set aside almost $30 million in a bid to attract skilled professionals and business people to the country's major regional area.
Teams of federal and state officials are speaking to local employers in the regions, encouraging them to attract and take on migrants.
The seminars are jointly conducted by representatives from the Department of Immigration and the Australian Industry Engineering Manufacturing Network (AIEM).
"Our aim is to provide assistance to local employers and to give information on the best ways to attract and retain valuable skilled employees," a departmental spokesman said.
"Skilled migration has economic and social benefits for regional Australia and the Australian Government has a range of initiatives to attract migrants to regional areas.
"There has been a shortage of skilled professionals in regional areas in recent years.
"While over 27,000 visas have been granted to regional migrants in the past eight years, we still need to do more to attract skilled migrants to areas in Australia where they are needed the most," the spokesman said.
"Employers who cannot find skilled workers locally can sponsor overseas workers through programmes such as the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS), the regional Temporary Business visa and the new Skilled Independent Regional (SIR) visa," the spokesman said.
"The SIR visa is designed to attract young English-speaking skilled migrants to areas identified by States and Territories as having skill shortages," the spokesperson pointed out.