MIGRANTS might have to agree to live and work in remote areas

Population Minister Tony Burke says migrants should go bush | News.com.au

AUSTRALIA'S first population minister will explore whether immigration rules can be used to dictate where new migrants live and work.

Tony Burke said it was "not in the national interest" for newcomers to settle in areas where they put extra pressure on infrastructure and jobs when rural and regional employers were crying out for workers.

Mr Burke, who has been tasked with tackling the nation's population disparities, said he believed Australia could better target its immigration policies, The Courier-Mail reports.

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"There is probably more that we can do than we've done in the past in the immigration program in saying, 'If you're coming to Australia there are parts of Australia where we need you to get your first job,' " he said.

His comments come as the debate over population and immigration heats up, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying earlier this year he believed in "a big Australia".

A Lowy Institute poll out today shows that while almost three-quarters of those surveyed support a bigger Australia, 69 per cent do not believe the nation should swell to 36 million by 2050.

Institute executive director Michael Wesley said: "The poll shows Australians are comfortable with some increase in population size, but are not in full support of the 36 million projected in the Government's Intergenerational Report."

Mr Burke told 2GB radio yesterday 36 million was a projection, not government policy.

"There'll be some parts of the country that can take more people, and it is in our economic interests in those parts of the country to be able to let those businesses get the workers they need," he said.

Mr Burke said he wasn't talking about using cash incentives in relation to migrants.

"I'm saying we can set the rules by which people come to the country if they're coming under those business programs," he said.

Premier Anna Bligh said this week Queensland should have a greater say on where migrants settled in order to plug employment shortages.

In the past financial year, Australia's migration program accounted for 171,318 people.

Two categories, the regional sponsored migration scheme and state/territory sponsored migration, tied migrants to work in particular areas and accounted for 22,821 people.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said yesterday Australia needed a national debate on population growth.

"In good years numbers ought to go up, in bad years numbers ought to go down," Mr Abbott told the ABC.

"I want to see a rich Australia, but if we have more people without the infrastructure to make the population sustainable, we won't be stronger and we won't be richer."