The inquiry into skilled migration was held this month in Albury, where Regional Development Australia's Riverina director Rachel Whiting laid out the plight of regional industries struggling to find employees.

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Ms Whiting said the current visa approval system needed to be faster and more streamlined in order to keep regional Australia growing, especially in the aftermath of lockdown.

"Businesses spoke about loss of productivity, difficulty in just maintaining orders, keeping up with current work, and that they were well-placed for expansion and that they wanted to do more work and to take part in the government's drive for manufacturing, but they just didn't have enough staff to do that," she said.

"The [government] needs to streamline its processes and just listen to those of us in the region who do understand what's going on and hearing those concerns as real concerns."

Truck Art owner Terry Gibbs said he had wanted to expand his business for years, but that he had been unable to due to the sheer lack of workers.

Mr Gibbs said the opportunities were there and the demand was high, but that the real bottleneck was finding people with the right skillsets.

He said he had some "very, very good" Filipino workers, and was looking forward to recruiting some more overseas workers once border reopened.

"It has impacted the business because we haven't been able to bring people in, so as soon as we're able to we'll be doing it," Mr Gibbs said.

"We're in a growing economy and there's more vehicles on the road, which creates business. To grow with it you need skilled workers, but it's very hard. Talk to other [Bomen factory owners] and they'll tell you the same story."

One migrant who made Wagga her home is Shirley Fang, who came to Australia about ten years ago with her husband Johnny Zhou who came to study cooking at TAFE.

The two of them worked in businesses and restaurants all around Sydney and Wagga, and on Christmas last year they opened their own restaurant on Baylis Street, Chef's Delight.

Ms Fang said she appreciated the relaxed, regional lifestyle in Wagga, much more than her hometown in China.

"It's more simple to live here. Peaceful," Ms Fang said.

"I think in China people have more stress."

Her son Jayden Zhou is a true-blue Australian, having been born in Wagga and starting Kindergarten this year.

Jayden said he had already befriended nearly every student in his class, and that he was having a great time in school.

"All of them are my friends, except the cheeky ones," Jayden said.

"We play in the tunnel, we play sharks."

Wagga Multicultural Council's Belinda Crain said she also wanted to see refugee and unskilled migration into Australia, saying they too were an asset for the economy and the community.

She said the usual refugee programs had ground to a halt during lockdown, and families were left in limbo in the meantime.

"With the humanitarian program we've had no new arrivals since March last year, so we've had a lot of families who've had their visas granted but haven't been able to come due to restrictions," Ms Crain said.

"We've had no processing of Special Humanitarian Program, where families living in Australia are able to sponsor their families, so none of those guys have been able to come either."

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