E&OE
RICHELLE HUNT: As you have been hearing in the news, international students and just cutting migration is front and centre, and you just have to walk through the CBD to know that it is home to thousands of international students who do call Melbourne home when they come here to study. There’s a massive student housing project that is being built pretty much as we speak in the heart of the city at the base of the State Library. But today, the Federal Government, they are going to announce a whole heap of different changes to our migration program. And one of those changes will be to essentially ban international students from bringing in a family member. Maybe it’s a parent, maybe they want to bring mum or dad, or maybe it’s a partner. What do you think the implications for that will be and will look like for all of us?
Luke Sheehy is the CEO of ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ú. Luke, when we talk about an international student coming to Australia, calling Melbourne home, they might be 18 years of age, maybe have never lived out of home before. Does this mean they can’t bring mum or dad with them?
LUKE SHEEHY: We’ll look at the details once it’s released later today, but it looks like the government is going to squeeze international student numbers yet again. This isn’t news and it’s not a new idea, but it’s certainly going to put even more pressure on what is a world-class asset for Australia and a really important economic asset, particularly for Victoria. It is a nearly $18 billion sector for the Victorian economy, and it supports nearly 70,000 Victorian jobs. Let’s be clear; the intent of any policy announcements today is to drive the number of international students down, which will have an absolute shock factor in the Victorian economy and right across the country. I think it’s really, really troubling.
RICHELLE HUNT: Well, it feels like we’ve sort of spent a lot of time post COVID trying to encourage and trying to boost those numbers when we saw so many international students return home. But when we talk about the ban on them bringing a family member, generally, who are we talking about here? Let’s say it’s a partner or a parent. How long can that person stay? Can that family member stay?
LUKE SHEEHY: Well, as I say, we’ll have to wait until Tony Burke releases the full details of this policy. But what they are doing is they are copying what PM Rishi Sunak did a couple of years ago in the UK, which is just to squeeze the international students and make it less attractive to come to our country. We have been great beneficiaries of international education for nearly 40 years in this country. It not only supports our economy, supports our world-class universities, particularly our world-class ones in my home state of Victoria as well, but it also turbocharges other industries. This policy today has one intention and one intention only: they want to squeeze down the number of international students. That is going to have detrimental effects on the economy, on our world-class universities and other industries. So, my question really is: who is going to pay for the gaps? Who’s going to pay for the gaps in research and who is going to pay for the gaps in educating the nearly one million Australian students in our higher education system in Australia?
RICHELLE HUNT: So, Luke, where will these gaps be? When we talk about the sort of work that international students do, and how limited it is for them to do paid work and how they contribute to our workforce and to our economy, just what are the sort of top two gaps that come to mind?
LUKE SHEEHY: Well, there is a labour market gap, but there’s also just an economic gap. So, every international student that comes into this country, particularly those enrolled at our universities, contributes around $70,000 to the Australian economy. And you are right, they work in essential industries part-time while they’re studying full-time in hospitality, in tourism sectors, and in other sectors, in caring economies right across the Australian and Victorian economies. But importantly, it’ll have huge economic shocks, not only for our universities, but for those sectors that rely on international students. One thing I think often gets forgotten is nearly at least a third of all Australia’s tourism comes from families of international students that visit their students and their family members.
RICHELLE HUNT: A third, did you say?
LUKE SHEEHY: At least a third, if not even more. And can you imagine what that would do? Think about people going down to Phillip Island if a third less were going to see the fairy penguins there because we are slashing and burning international student numbers. This has real knock-on effects and it has real effects on real people’s jobs. And I think the Government needs to think about these consequences when they make these policy announcements. Fewer numbers of migrants look good on a press release, but let’s think about the economic and social consequences it will really have.
RICHELLE HUNT: There’s a text here, Luke, and I just wouldn’t mind getting your reaction to this. And it says, “Your description isn’t accurate. With respect, students have family members visit, but they just can’t stay for the duration of a student’s studies.” So, is that sort of the happy medium that maybe a partner or a parent can come and visit? Would that be enough?
LUKE SHEEHY: We’re arguing what is a hypothetical until I actually see the details from Tony Burke later today. But let’s be clear, the intention is to have fewer international students in the country. So fewer international students in the country means fewer additional visitors, fewer stimulus for these important economic industries, including education, but importantly, hospitality and tourism. So, the net effect is going to create economic chaos and also create a huge funding gap in our world-class universities. I think about Melbourne University, RMIT, Deakin, Monash, serving great communities in Victoria, thousands of real jobs supported by this revenue. Fewer students mean less resources for our universities. And that is the really important question that has not yet been answered by the Commonwealth Government.
RICHELLE HUNT: Well, it will hopefully all be unveiled today. Luke, I can hear how passionate you are about this, so thanks so much for your time.
LUKE SHEEHY: Thanks so much, Richelle.
