On 10 December 2018 the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs agreed to establish Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA) with the Northern Territory and the Greater South Coast region of Victoria. This will be a second DAMA for the NT and a first for the Greater South Coast.
The NT government has had a DAMA in place to address local workforce shortages since 2015. A second DAMA for a further five years, reflects the current labour market needs of the region and supports the NT Government’s population strategy.
The Greater South Coast (GSC) region covers the municipal districts of Warrnambool City, the Moyne, Corangamite, Colac-Otway, Glenelg and Southern Grampians Shires of Victoria. A DAMA will help address the skills shortages in this region.
DAMAs provide flexible arrangements to access overseas workers to supplement local workforces where there are critical labour shortages.
In some parts of regional Australia, low unemployment rates, aging populations and skill gaps in key labour markets, are all challenges that effect an area’s ability to grow and prosper.
For a DAMA to be approved there must be demonstrated efforts to recruit Australians first, ceilings on numbers of overseas workers employed annually and local support made available for migrant workers.
The Department works closely with individual areas to ensure the agreements are tailored to the unique economic and labour market conditions of each regional area.
Discussions are taking place with a number of other regional areas that may benefit from individualised migration arrangements.
More information on Designated Area Migration Agreements
FAB MIGRATION SERVICES 