The attraction and retention of professionals to regional areas : the community perspective

In recent years there has been a net migration from the regions to the coastal and metropolitan areas of Australia. Now the attraction and retention of professionals to regional areas is emerging as a rnajor problem for Australia. It is a problem that is affecting many regions and professional categories. This paper reports the results of a study to scope the nature, severity and extent of the problem in Queensland. lnformation was collected in five regions of Queensland. In each region, representatives of a cross-section of professions were invited to provide information on what the issues were within their profession, what they saw as solutions, what they had tried that worked and had not worked as well as the policy irrplications. The key global drivers of change impacting on the retention of professionals are also discussed. Issues raised by the study included those relating to the professional's career, their family and their income. Amongst others is the lack of professional support and development, the level of education available and the higher cost of living in the regions as well as lifestyle. While some of the issues raised region to region were similar, solutions that were found to work in one region were not necessarily transferable to another. The qualitative infomation gathered for this study has shown clearly that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The extent of the problern demands a collaborative effort. An approach to national study is presented. Such a study would extend the work undertaken here to quantify the problem and assess the impacts and service delivery issues by region for each of the professions/services.