• Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack launched a $4.6 million “move-to-the-country” program this week to encourage people to move to regional areas, but newly released data revealed movers aren’t necessarily taking the available jobs.
• Over the past seven years, only 3,088 Australians accessed a Federal scheme to relocate workers to regional areas, according to data given to Guardian Australia.
• Labor says the Coalition government’s regional jobs programs have failed to support regional areas.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Only 3,000 Australians have accessed a federal government scheme to relocate workers to regional areas over the past seven years, according to data reported by Guardian Australia — so why is the government funneling $4.6 million into a new program that encourages more people to do so?

The federal grant, launched by the Coalition nearly seven years ago, sought to help Australians relocate to permanent work in regional areas.

But new figures released to Guardian Australia show that one-third of the just over than 3,000 recipients relocated to cities rather than filling labour shortages in regional areas.

The report comes as the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack launched a $4.6 million “move-to-the-country” campaign on March 17 backed by not-for-profit think tank the Regional Australia Institute.

McCormack is pushing the initiative by highlighting the affordability of housing in regional Australia and higher quality of life.

However, evidence on the ground shows that convincing city dwellers to invest in a sea change or tree change isn’t necessarily the issue. Record numbers of city dwellers are already heading to regional and coastal towns, but many of them are just taking their city jobs with them.

Housing crisis hits regional Australia

Australian’s astronomical housing market boom has been widely reported, and country Australia has also been hit by price jumps, as record numbers of city residents decamp to regional areas.

In the first three months of lockdown, between April and June last year, capital cities suffered a net loss of 10,500 people, according to official data — the largest quarterly decline on records going back to 2001.

More recent numbers, though reduced, still showed a net loss for capital cities of 11,200 people from internal migration, the largest quarterly loss on record.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the campaign is about filling regional jobs, with the Regional Australia Institute identifying 54,000 vacancies in regional areas.

However the ABC reported that many established residents in regional areas are seeing newcomers snap up homes and rental properties in their towns, without necessarily filling local jobs.

“People with big corporate jobs [that] are now, because of COVID, able to work from home, which is great for them,” small business owner Frankie Crowhurst told the ABC.

It’s an observation that lines up with the findings released: the office of the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, said: “From 1 July 2014 to 26 February 2021 Relocation Assistance to Take Up a Job has assisted 3,088 people to relocate for ongoing work.”

Regional property values jumped 6.9% in 2020, reversing a 15-year trend of regions underperforming against Australian cities.

In December, regional house prices gained 1.6% – the most in 17 years – with record prices across NSW’s Hunter Valley, the Victorian cities of Bendigo, Ballarat, Warrnambool ($367,000) and Shepparton, according to data from CoreLogic and CommSec.

“Regional home prices continue to outpace capital cities and house prices are out-pacing apartment prices,” CommSec chief economist Craig James told the Australian Financial Review.

“Both reflect COVID-19 effects, especially the new reality that work can be done anywhere and at any time,” he said.

Failure to launch: jobs plan for regional Australia isn’t working

While the Coalition has stepped up its efforts to promote the grants, which pay movers $6,000 to relocate to regional areas, Labor has accused the government of failing to have a plan for jobs in regional Australia, even after the government made several recent tweaks to the rules of the scheme in a bid to expand access over the past few months.

Even Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week admitted its programs weren’t working.

There are “54,000 jobs going in regional Australia”, but job seekers are “regrettably not filling these jobs,” he said.

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