TOPICS: Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024, international education, international student caps, migration, housing

E&OE

LUKE SHEEHY: I am Luke Sheehy from Universities Australia. Well, the Parliament today has decided that the war on the international education sector in this country will continue. Since just before Christmas last year, our university sector has been the victim of the sledgehammer approach to the student visa processing system under Ministerial Determination 107. The government promised that we would get relief from this Ministerial Determination 107 with the student caps bill and the Parliament today has decided that pain will continue. We want to say to both sides of politics in an election year, do you want a vibrant, dynamic and growing university sector in this country to deliver on the challenges for the future? Do we want a Future Made in Australia? Do we want classroom ready teachers? Do we want all of the essential cross-subsidies we get from international education revenues to support our not-for-profit sector? What’s clear is that every dollar universities make from international students gets reinvested in this world-class sector which delivers for not only international students, but it delivers for Australians. We think the phony war and blaming international students on the housing issue and migration is just plain wrong. And we think that in the election year, both sides of politics need to ask themselves, do they want to invest in our universities for the future or do they want to continue this phony war right through to an election. Any questions?

JOURNALIST: What was your reaction to the opposition’s stance today that they would oppose this legislation?

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, as I said, that government has taken a sledgehammer to this sector right throughout this year, which has seen 60,000 fewer student visas and more than $4 billion of economic harm to this sector. And the opposition had a choice today whether or not to help, particularly universities in regional Australia and outer suburban growth corridors, with the relief they need from this Ministerial Determination. And they have decided they want to continue to have a phony war blaming international students on the migration and housing issue right through to the election. That is a matter for them. But what I will say is both sides of politics need to get real about investing in Australia’s world-class university sector that relies so much on international student revenue.

JOURNALIST: And Ministerial Direction 107. I mean, you will want to see it scrapped straight away. What would you like to see done instead for those who would say that migration needs to be cut down?

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, we know that this international education sector not only provides essential support for our universities, but it is an essential turbocharging element in the Australian economy. The NAB and leading economists have told us that half of economic growth last year alone came from international education. So, this is not only a sledgehammer to our sector, but it is economically reckless. There are other sectors like tourism, property and hospitality that rely so much on international education, and I thank our friends in the business community that have supported universities and the international education sector all year. What we want to see is a fair dinkum funding deal for our sector so we can deliver on the big opportunities and challenges that Australia has ahead of it, which will require our fantastic universities delivering the graduates we need, as well as doing the research to drive new economic opportunity for Australians and the rest of the world.

JOURNALIST: Are you at all concerned that the government, if it doesn’t succeed in getting this particular bill through that it might…..(inaudible).

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, we know that the Universities Accord has told us that we need to double the size of the university sector by 2050, that more than five out of 10 new jobs will require an Australian to have a university qualification and we can’t undertake that important growth to deliver for the country if we do not have essential funding sources. International students make up a significant amount of the resourcing and funding that we get and we know that the sledgehammer approach is already undermining what we do. Most of our universities are in deficit and continue to be so and regretfully, we have seen many job losses right across the country already. So, our challenge is to both sides of politics to come up with funding and policy solutions that support this sector. Stop taking the sledgehammer approach with Ministerial Determination 107.

JOURNALIST: So, the sector has been preparing for these caps to be introduced by January 1, which is two months away. What will your members be going through today?

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, they will continue to be in a state of pain that they have been for many months and a state of anguish because of the funding uncertainty and the policy chaos we have seen all year. We want to see both sides of politics or whoever is going to form the next government at the election to invest in our universities because it invests in our people, and it invests in our economy. International students for nearly four decades have provided essential support through the tuition fees that they pay to deliver on a world-class university sector for Australians. And that supports the experiences of Australians in the classroom as well as the essential research that we do to turbocharge our nation’s economy and do things like find medical cures and breakthroughs that support the health of Australians and the world. So, if they are going to continue with this sledgehammer approach, which both sides now effectively support, then they continue to do damage to this important sector.

ENDS