Blake Lee, The Buloke Times
Businesses of every size, in every industry, in every corner of the country, are experiencing the worst skill and labour shortages in decades – a challenge that is worsening by the day, particularly in rural communities.
Skilled migration is one of the policy levers available to governments to address workforce shortages in the economy. It is not the only lever, but skilled migration is having a profound and increasing role in fulfilling the workforce challenges and population decline in rural communities like Birchip.
Shivaprasad (Shiva) Mallappa Holagundi and his wife Chiatra, moved to Birchip eight months ago to help fill regional Victoria’s job shortage. Having moved from India to Melbourne, and then to Birchip, they play a vital role in ensuring rural communities thrive through the skills of international workers.
“The Birchip community has been very welcoming, and I want to deliver back to the community with my services,” Shiva said.
Work+Stay
Shiva found employment at the Buloke Shire Council through the “Work+Stay” recruitment agency. This social enterprise supports regional Australian employers across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland to find employees with the required skills to benefit their business.
Work+Stay is an initiative of Settlement Services International (SSI) which goes beyond just connecting job candidates with employment opportunities, by supporting them to settle into their new lives.
“We find job opportunities for anyone moving to the regions to pursue their career, and then we create the connections the employees and their partners need to stay in the community long term,” Merenia Marin, Work+Stay enterprise leader, said.
“We (Work+Stay) recruit according to the needs of the employer and what the employees need, so we are able to align the roles with who we’ve got in our talent pool.
“Over the past nine months, the recruitment agency has primarily focused on finding jobs for civil engineers. Merenia said “Engineers Australia reported that Engineering vacancies have grown by 80% nationally over the last two years,” Merenia said.
“At the moment, our key focus is finding employment for skilled civil engineers particularly for the migrant group. There are a lot of skilled engineers working as unskilled labourers, Uber drivers and pizza delivery people in the cities”.
Shiva was one of these people, working in Pakenham as a construction assistant where he lived with his sister and brother-in-law.
Shiva grew up in Davanagere, India, which is roughly the same size as Birchip but has a population of 435,000, obviously much larger than Birchip’s 700!
Shiva completed his schooling in India, where his studies were all in English, and he graduated Visvesvaraya Technological University in India with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Masters in Structural Engineering.
He began work as a construction project manager in India for a private company and worked as a freelance design engineer. After visiting his sister in Australia multiple times, and seeing the expansive engineering industry, Shiva applied for a Visa “for the wellbeing of his career”.
He gained employment at the Buloke Shire Council at the start of this year as a Capital Projects Officer through Work+Stay and says that he has enjoyed his job and meeting many diverse community members.
“I’ve been able to meet lots of new people, through work, contractors and community groups, and I’m trying to learn lots of new things,” he said.
“It took a while to get used to the small population, but the community has been very friendly and supportive.
“I don’t understand why more qualified workers don’t move to regional areas to take up employment opportunities. Many of them have pre-conceived ideas that rural communities are racist and not welcoming, but they need to come and see for themselves because we have not found that at all; everyone has been very welcoming.”
Shiva also mentioned the pay disparity in rural communities, compared to the same jobs in the city, but he noted that the reduced cost of living in the country counterbalanced this.
Work+Stay maps out communities where work is available and collaborates with a community partner to ensure that newcomers are supported in their new environment to be welcomed and included.
In Birchip, the community partner has been the Birchip Neighbourhood House, and Shiva said, “Through Simone we have been able to get involved in the community. We have attended community lunches, workshops and we are playing in the indoor sports competition.”
Housing is also an essential requirement organised by Work+Stay and Merenia said, “The accommodation must be organised before we let the workers move to a regional area as this is critical to their successful settlement.”
Shiva married Chaitra in January of this year in India and she was able to relocate to Australia with Shiva on a spouse visa. In India, Chaitra was an accountant and since her working Visa was recently approved she has been training at Wimmera Mallee Accounting. Chaitra said, “The accounting and taxation system is very different here, but I am enjoying learning the new systems and everyone is very friendly.”
Jim Daniel
Jim Daniel and wife Rainey have lived in Birchip for 16 years, after Rainey relocated for work at the Birchip Hospital in 2007.
The couple had previously lived in India and worked in Saudi Arabia, however, Rainey wanted to work in the Western World, and moved to Australia, where she was soon joined by Jim.
“We moved to Australia for a better life opportunity, and we thought it was a good country to choose,” Jim said.
Jim and Rainey have made Birchip their home with their three sons, Jeswin, Chriswin and Edwin, and they are actively involved in the community and sporting teams.
Within one month of moving to Birchip, Jim began work at the IGA, where he remained for two-and-a-half years, until 2010, when the couple decided to take a chance and purchase the Birchip Newsagency.
“Birchip is a friendly town, really welcoming and safe,” Jim said.
The couple provide many benefits to the residents of Birchip and surrounding communities, and are a prime example of how the skills of international workers greatly benefit rural communities.
TMC Enviro
Tom and Celeste McLaughlan own and operate TMC Enviro and YBS Ag., and both businesses have a strong history of employing permanent and temporary residents who come to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa or are looking to extend their time in Australia.
A requirement of applying for a visa extension is known as “the 88-day requirement”, in which visa holders must complete three months (or 88 days), of specified work. Specified work is work that is undertaken in a “specified” industry and area of Australia, including regional and remote Australia.
“Around 40-50% of our employees at any one time will be on a working holiday visa or originally came on a working holiday visa,” Tom McLoughlan said.
“They come from all over the world; we have had employees from France, Germany, England, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Malta and everywhere really. We are grateful for the diversity they bring to our organisation and the Birchip community in general, and often their friends follow them, or they meet partners here and stay even longer.”
This was the case with Lukshan Kasthuriarachchi, who joined the team at TMC Enviro as a diesel mechanic. Lukshan is connected to former Birchip resident and Sri Lankan restaurant owner, Laki Wijethilake, who informed Lukshan about the open position.
Lukshan made the move to Birchip around one month ago and has been warmly welcomed by the TMC Enviro team and Birchip community, to whom his skills have been of great benefit.
With the initial 88-day visa, and subsequent extensions including a COVID-19 allowance whereby the Department of Home Affairs Extended Skilled (Regional) Provisional visas, Tom said, “International employees can realistically work in Australia for three to four years and often we can extend that by becoming a sponsor.
“At the moment, immigration officials seem to have a real appetite to get more people working in regional areas, and they are expediting the visa process which is great. Our record for getting a visa approved is currently 14 days.”
East Wimmera Health Service (EWHS)
For over 20 years EWHS has employed a large number of skilled international workers to fill vacant positions in a range of roles including nursing, allied health and support services.
In 2023, 15%, or over 50 of the 360 employed at the five campuses of EWHS have come from overseas countries including England, India, Philippines, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Wales and Zimbabwe.
“We employ workers through agencies, online recruiting and Seek, specifically targeting people who are not here in the country,” Geoff Lord, Director of People and Culture at EWHS, said.
International workers remain in regional areas for various amounts of time. Geoff said: “At EWHS some have chosen to stay in the region and make it their home once they have been granted permanent residency or citizenship by the Australian Government, while others choose to move on to try new experiences after a short time.”
Barriers for international workers can include Visa troubles, housing and financial costs, as well as cultural differences.
Geoff says that while international workers do face several barriers, they are supported throughout their journey and face many positives through their employment and in the wider community and, dependent on the role, some international healthcare professionals are able to obtain financial assistance with some relocation expenses from the Department of Health.
Geoff said: “EWHS staff personally welcome and assist in connecting new residents to our wonderful communities. Some examples of this include assisting in sourcing a home to live in, providing contacts of local businesses to explore employment opportunities for partners/families of the international healthcare professional, providing information relating to schools and childcare within our communities and the local intel on things like where to shop and get your haircut.
“Many of our International workers feel that they’ve well and truly settled themselves into the Wimmera… they become part of the community.”
Many of Buloke’s international workers have been attracted to the regions through government and organisation support including subsidies and incentives, and the potential for career enhancements, but concurrently they have made an enormous contribution to the sustainability, prosperity, and diversity of our local communities.
When looking at the hustle and bustle of small communities, our towns would not be the same without the generous contributions of time and knowledge that our international workers bring.
Birchip, Buloke Shire and the East Wimmera Health Service are all more productive and culturally rich because of the employees and their families who have come to our communities from all around the world.
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This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 18 August 2023.
