Addressing Rual Depopulation through Dispersal Policies: Spatial Integration and Retention of Humanitarian Migrants in Australia, 2006-2021

Cho Yat Wong , The University of Queensland
Aude Bernard, University of Queensland
Tomasz Zajac, Institute for Social Science Research, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland
Francisco Perales, University of Queensland

Many humanitarian migrants to Australia now settle in non-metropolitan areas on arrival. Introduced two decades ago to address rural depopulation, this policy has led to a shift in the internal settlement patterns of humanitarian migrants. Yet, we know little about their long-term retention in non-metropolitan areas. This study fills this gap in knowledge by identifying trends in the level and determinants of retention among humanitarian migrants who settled in rural Australia between 2006 and 2021, paying particular attention to variations by origin country and the role of co-ethnic networks. We apply survival model to novel longitudinal administrative microdata from the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project (MADIP) and track humanitarian migrants’ movement across the urban hierarchy. Findings indicate that the rural retention of humanitarian migrants is significantly lower than among skilled and family migrants. A decade after arrival, less than 45 per cent remain in their region of settlement and this percentage declines to under 20 per cent in remote regions. Differences between non-metropolitan areas underline the importance of access to services and employment as well as ethnic networks. Despite the progressive emergence of rural co-ethnic communities, the retention of humanitarian migrants remains low, raising questions about the success of dispersal policies.

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 Presented in Session 56. Flash session Internal Migration of Immigrant Origin Populations