ONLY 306 people have signed up for a federal government scheme to provide financial incentives for the unemployed to move to rural areas.
During the 2010 election campaign Prime Minister Julia Gillard promised $14.8 million to pay $6000 each to unemployed people prepared to move to the country.
Officials from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations told a parliamentary inquiry yesterday into the use of "fly in, fly out" and "drive in, drive out" workers that only a small number of job seekers took up the offer in the first year of the program, The Australian Financial Review reports.
Department official Joanne Wood said yesterday 306 people received the payment between January 2011 and February 2012 out of the 4000 places that were budgeted under the policy.
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