Cloud Hosting

CANBERRA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- A leading think tank has called for the Australian government to increase regional investment to help spread out the country's population.

The Regional Australia Institute (RAI), a Canberra-based independent think tank founded in 2011, has released a 10-year plan to boost the proportion of the Australian population living in regional areas.

Under the plan - titled A Framework to Rebalance the Nation - the RAI calls for greater investment from the government to build workforces in regional areas, and make rural towns more liveable with upgraded infrastructure to better spread Australia's population out across the country.

According to RAI data, more than three million Australians are eager to move out of urban areas, but recruiting for positions in regional Australia is growing harder.

It found that 77 percent of employers recruiting in regional Australia reported difficulty filling advertised roles in 2022 - up from 37 percent in 2019.

The institute identified housing availability as a major hindrance for people looking to move away from cities.

The RAI plan aims to increase the number of people living prosperously in Australia's regions from 9.6 million currently - approximately 36 percent of the population - to 11 million by 2032.

Read this article:

Australian gov't urged to fund decentralization measures - Xinhua