E&OE

ANDY PARK: Luke Sheehy is the CEO of Universities Australia, and he spoke to the Committee today. He joins me now. Luke, welcome.

LUKE SHEEHY: Good to be with you, Andy.

ANDY PARK: You say that even without these caps, 14,000 university jobs are at risk. Where does that figure come from exactly?

LUKE SHEEHY: Back in December last year, the Minister for Home Affairs changed the visa processing arrangements for international student visas. That has created a backlog and a dysfunction in the system, which has meant 60,000 fewer international student visas have been issued. We know in our sector that four international student enrolment supports one job. So, our analysis shows that 60,000 fewer international students in Australia means 14,000 jobs are potentially under-funded and at risk. This is before the much-anticipated caps in international student numbers come in.

ANDY PARK: Do you ever get a sense as to whether that’s the number that the government’s looking at? There is some reporting out today in The Australian Financial Review that the government is looking at a cap of 40 per cent students coming from overseas at each university based off those 2019 figures.

LUKE SHEEHY: Firstly, Andy, you’re right to say this is before the caps have been put in place. What we made clear to the Senate today, and we’re making clear to the government, is that we don’t want the current visa processing arrangements to continue. We also want a fair dinkum deal for our universities in terms of what the government will allocate in terms of growth. There are many universities in Australia at the moment that are ready, willing and able to take international students. A lot of those universities are in regional parts of the country and the outer suburban growth areas, and they’ve really suffered under the current visa processing arrangements. We’re hoping we can get a good deal for all universities because international students not only help the experience of Australians in the classroom, but the essential revenue they give us helps us support world-class teaching for Australians, world-class teaching for international students and support the research effort that Australia needs.

ANDY PARK: There’s talk of the government wanting to implement this by the beginning of next year. Are you hearing that? Is that feasible?

LUKE SHEEHY: Certainly, it is a very rushed implementation timeline, Andy, and we really want to see this move implemented in 2026. It takes on average 18 months to two years to recruit an international student. If caps come down next year, we have to say to thousands of students that have already started to invest in Australia that they might not have a place in an Australian university for next year. We want the government to consider the logistics and the realities of how we recruit international students and how long it takes.

ANDY PARK: We’re talking about how Australian universities will be affected by this push to reduce international students. Luke Sheehy from Universities Australia is with me on RN Drive. Do you agree though that there needs to be somewhat of a correction here? I mean, this is an industry that has been very profitable. Yes, those profits and benefits have flowed particularly to regional university towns, you might say. But is it your position that everything was just sort of hunky dory before the government stepped in here?

LUKE SHEEHY: Andy, we were at the forefront of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. When they closed the borders in March of 2020, we said to international students, You can’t come into Australia anymore’. It’s taken us years to rebuild our financial position since that time, and certainly we would have seen unmet demand with a surge of international students. But I will come back to this point. The fact that they’ve messed with the visa processing system has caused an additional amount of pain in a sector that’s still recovering. We really are just looking to reinvest the income that we get from international students into what we do. Universities are not-for-profit institutions. We invest in Australia’s future by providing essential skilled graduates for our economy and essential research and development. We’re not private businesses. All we’re asking for is a fair deal from the government in the next round of negotiations on the allocation of growth for 2025 and beyond.

ANDY PARK: There is this provision in the Bill that would allow the Minister to make decisions about whether particular courses can run which seems like a pretty extraordinary intervention. What’s that about?

LUKE SHEEHY It certainly is an extraordinary intervention, and it’s something that we’ve never seen. I’ve been in this sector for nearly 20 years, and I’ve never seen ministerial intervention at the course level like this before. We made it pretty clear this morning to the Senate, as have many of our allies in the business community and Vice-Chancellors and student groups, that this intervention is overreach and it should be scrapped.

ANDY PARK: This push to reduce international student numbers is coming as the government looks to cut international migration to take the pressure off the housing market. You don’t believe international students have a significant impact on housing. Why so?

LUKE SHEEHY: Certainly, all people that come and live in Australia need somewhere to live, so they contribute to the overall demand on housing stock. But we know from analysis from the Property Council and the Student Accommodation Council that only four per cent of the private rental market is international students. To put all the blame on international students for the housing crisis in Australia is a bit of a joke, frankly, and I think we need to not just blame international students, but look at how Australian governments, private sector, state and territory regulations can work together to solve this problem. What I’m finding really disappointing is that international students are being blamed entirely for a housing problem that is systemic in nature.

ANDY PARK: And universities by extension. Vicki Thomson from the Group of Eight has commented on this potential change saying that we’ve been unfairly dragged into the pre-election migration debate. Do you agree with her?

LUKE SHEEHY: I certainly agree, and I don’t want to see it become a bidding war as to who can be harsher to a sector that is contributing $50 billion to the Australian economy, that is providing essential soft diplomatic links to the outside world and has served Australia for many decades. And Andy, let’s remember, both sides of politics have encouraged this sector to flourish and grow over many decades. I don’t want to see it become cannon fodder in an election battle.

ANDY PARK: We’ll have to leave it there. Luke Sheehy is the CEO of Universities Australia. Good to talk.

ENDS