The new deal between the Palmer United Party and the Federal government to allow refugee families to live on mainland Australia for five years under a new visa called the Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHAV), could see some of the 30,000 asylum seekers sent to work in regions of Australia that are experiencing labour shortages and also to remote areas of Australia.

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission 6631 people live in some form of detention (as at June 2014) with 24,500 people permitted to live in the community on Bridging Visas while waiting for their claims for protection to be processed.

Now, these asylum seekers may be either told, encouraged or invited to apply for a new visa that will have them working in regional Australia, contributing to the local economy and paying taxes. They will have to stay off welfare benefits for at least 3 years in order to be eligible for ‘another type of onshore visa’ to possibly continue their stay which will unlikely be permanent. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has said that the SHAV will not be a pathway to a permanent protection visa.

It is expected that these visa-holders will also have access to medicare, trauma counselling, translation services, and education for school aged children.

Clive Palmer described it as 'a win for refugees… And it's a win for regional Australia.'

According to various reports, as part of the deal, the government has also agreed to support assisted voluntary return packages, to repatriate the refugees into their native countries. This is particularly aimed at reuniting unaccompanied minors with their parents or relatives.

According to the ABC, the move has attracted a mixed response from regional Australia. Some, such as Chris Hazelman, manager of the Ethnic Council of Shepparton, in Victoria, saying the 'devil could be in the detail'. He said he would like to see more information on how the system would be managed and asked what would happen if one region had seasonal work such as fruit picking which could suddenly dry up if there was a bad harvest year.

Melissa Price, the federal Liberal MP for Durack in Western Australia, however, said regions such as hers could benefit greatly from such a system.

'There are towns in Durack such as Carnarvon and Kununurra and parts of the Wheatbelt that have been seeking useful and appropriate visa and employment arrangements for some time,' she said.