_{Monday 8th February 2010}

Australia has announced new changes in the immigration policy which they hope will attract highly skilled workers.

Australia's immigration minister, Chris Evans has said that the changes would mean that the current list of 106 skills in demand would be scaled down and a new points system used to assess migrants to the country.

The move is in reaction to the current trend in new arrivals to complete a course in cookery or hairdressing in order to gain residency in Australia. Mr Evans commented that Australia were now looking for more skilled high end workers including doctors, nurses and engineers. The mining sector is particularly in need of more workers as demand for raw materials intensifies from China. 

Last year 170,000 people applied to live and work permanently in Australia as skilled migrants, but with just 108,100 places many high end skilled workers would have been disappointed. The new move is aimed at cutting down the number of lower end applications to gain residency in the country.

Statistics from relocation and property companies have seen a sharp increase in interest in individuals from the UK wishing to move to Australia attracted by a better quality of life and better weather. Rightmove Overseas Property have announced a major increase in demand for property in Australia, with searches for property within different regions of the country accounting for 71.5% of all property searches made. Perth was the most popular city followed by Melbourne and Brisbane.

It is estimated that over 4.4 million residents in Australia are now expats.

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_{Source: bbc.co.uk 'Australia to focus immigration policy on skills ' 08/02/2010}