E&OE 

KATIE WOOLF: The CEO of the peak body for Australian universities is in the Northern Territory this week. It’s part of a national tour ahead of those caps being imposed on international student numbers, which is set to take effect next year. The Federal Government’s cap aims to reduce student visas in a bid to curb net migration levels and return them to pre-pandemic levels, but it is going to be a huge impost for universities, forcing them to cut costs, to claw back hundreds of millions of dollars lost in overseas student fees. And in places like regional Australia and places like Darwin, we know that it is going to have quite a big impact. It is something that we’ve spoken to Charles Darwin University’s Vice-Chancellor about previously, particularly after investing in the new city campus. Now joining us in the studio is Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy. Good morning to you, Luke.

LUKE SHEEHY: Good to be with you.

KATIE WOOLF: Great to have you in the studio. Now, tell me how big an impact these caps on international students are having on universities, particularly those like Charles Darwin University.

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, I have been so privileged to get around to all of the main university campuses in the year that I have had this job and what a beautiful investment the new city campus, not only for the university, but for the people of the territory. And we know that many universities, including CDU, are doing it really tough at the moment, not just because of the proposed caps but because of 10 years of structural underfunding from the Commonwealth government. And since just before Christmas last year, there was a sledgehammer taken to student visa processing by the previous Minister for Home Affairs that’s doing real damage already. So, the proposed caps are just one other way to do damage to this sector, but we know they are already doing a lot of damage. The beautiful building that is here in Darwin city is predicated upon having lots of international students coming to get an education experience and investing in the territory. We know you need lots more skilled people up north. And I mean, coming here again for the first time in a while, it reminds me of why I shouldn’t live in the south because it’s so beautiful up here. We know that the university could solve the population and skilled worker problem. And the Federal government, and both sides, frankly, in an election year, both Labor and Liberal are having a phony war and they want to go harder on international students.

KATIE WOOLF: And I think that’s what gets forgotten in this discussion so very often, we speak about it quite often in a lot of different ways, not just around universities, but also when you talk about different skilled worker areas of shortage, that regional Australia is very different to some of our other major capital cities. Those cuts for some of the other major capital cities, I know that they are still having an impact, but in places like Darwin, in places like Rockhampton, in places like even Canberra, it has a massive impost not only on the university but also on filling other jobs that those uni students have when they come and live here.

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, absolutely. We know international students drive other sectors. At least a third, if not half of our tourism industry, is driven by the families of international students that come to visit their children and their friends and family, and they stay for a long time. We know international parents in particular drive regional tourism much more than other groups. And so, there is a really strong interdependency on international education and those important critical sectors and it’s driving economic growth. The National Australia Bank told us that last year alone, half of the GDP growth in Australia’s economy came from international education. So, it puzzles me a bit that both sides of politics are trying to drive it down rather than up. Why are they trying to wreck it, not build it? It seems to be economically reckless and it’s really going to undermine the ability for places like CDU to deliver not only for international students, but the Australian students who really need those high skilled degrees for the territory and for across Australia.

KATIE WOOLF: Now Luke, I understand that you have met with Charles Darwin University. We had spoken to Professor Scott Bowman on the show just last week, I believe it was, and he talked about these cuts and the impact that it’s going to have on the university. What did CDU have to say to you in those meetings you have had?

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, CDU is doing a really fantastic job. We know that they deliver right across your wonderful territory. It’s a big territory. I come from Victoria, which seems really tiny compared to the NT, and they do a lot with very little resources and international students and the growth that they expected is designed to really turbocharge their mission for the territory, including those beautiful buildings and helping many people across the territory get the education they need, encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander folk to go to university and TAFE importantly because it’s a dual sector university. And so, we were having conversations about how CDU can work within the current funding environment that Canberra is delivering. And frankly, they are under pressure. And you have alluded to job losses across the country. I don’t want to see any job losses. We know that university jobs are fantastic jobs for communities. They support families and communities, but not only universities directly employing people, the revenue we get from international students flows through to small and medium enterprises to bars and restaurants and hotels and tourism destinations and other businesses. And I really think both sides of politics need to think about what damage they are doing to local economies in an election year.

KATIE WOOLF: So, where to from here really with this discussion? I mean with these caps, I am sure it’s not the only issue that you are trying to deal with, with politicians and both sides of politics on that national stage. But where to from here, how do we try to work through this issue? Because the government does seem quite intent on forging ahead?

LUKE SHEEHY: Well, I have said for a couple of months now that this is a war on migration and it’s a political war on migration, and they are misrepresenting the role of international students in that issue. We want to see both sides of politics build the higher education and tertiary education sector for Australia. Places like NT need skilled workers to drive your economic future. You can’t do it without universities. So, what we want to see is a fair income commitment from the Labor Party and the LNP or the CLP at a federal level to invest in these important institutions to grow our economy. If we want to do the big things that Australia needs to do, like a Future Made in Australia, the energy transition, create new jobs, have teacher classroom ready, teachers, nurses that are ready to go and help our health system, we need universities. So international students are an important part of that. They not only fund it, but they help our classroom experience be more global and they help us reach out to the outside world and make friends. We have had millions of students from across the world come to our fantastic universities like CDU. They invest in Darwin, and they invest in NT. And I want to see that continue because it’s good for Australia and Australians.

KATIE WOOLF: Well, Luke Sheehy, Universities Australia’s CEO, good to speak with you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us in the studio.

LUKE SHEEHY: Thanks for having me.

ENDS