Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise today to speak on the Education Services for Overseas Students Legislation Amendment Bill 2010. This bill touches on a sector of the economy which is incredibly important for my electorate of Throsby on the South Coast of New South Wales. We have a great regional university and a number of schools, particularly in the southern highlands, which have successfully tapped into the demand for high-quality education services. I am very pleased to say that the demand for the education services provided by places like the University of Wollongong and St Paul’s International College in my electorate has grown and has not been hit like other institutions have throughout the period of the GFC. International education services are now the third largest income earner in the region. A region that once relied upon manufacturing and mining is now diversifying because of the benefits of overseas education services.

I was interested to hear the contribution earlier by the member for Ryan. I am pleased to see that there is some bipartisan support for the implementation of the Baird review findings. I do part company with the member for Ryan on some of her observations. Yes, it is true that international student applications and applications for international student visas have declined over the last three years. But if you listened to the contribution from the member for Ryan you could be forgiven for thinking that we have not been through a global financial crisis, which has had a significant impact on the demand for overseas education services, or that we have not had a high Australian dollar, which has had a big impact on the capacity of many Australian institutions to compete with other countries not only in our region but also around the world in what is now a global market.

We also inherited a lack of quality control in a sector that grew like Topsy over a decade under the watch of the previous government. As a result we saw a number of institutions that have been described by previous speakers as nothing more than shonky operations. They have also been described by many commentators as nothing more than visa factories. It was with an eye to the need to implement some quality control in this critical sector of our economy that the government acted. Yes, more refinements to the regulations of this sector are needed, and I will have something more to say about that shortly, but we did exactly what was necessary to ensure that we had some quality control in this sector.

Every year, thousands of young people from around the world travel to Australia to enrol in a variety of educational institutions, including schools, TAFEs, universities and English language schools. As previous speakers have noted, our reputation as a safe, multicultural country ensures that we are one of the largest providers of education services for overseas students. It is critical that we in this place do nothing to damage the reputation we have as an open, welcoming country that values multiculturalism and the contribution that our overseas students make not only to our economy but also to our cultural life.

We note that the current Australian dollar is impacting on many of our export industries, and the education sector is no exception. Despite this, I am very pleased to say that the education services sector will continue to grow and be a part of Australia’s economy. In my own region the high Australian dollar, thankfully, has not yet had an impact on enrolments and the demand for future enrolments, particularly in the tertiary education sector. I met yesterday with representatives from the University of Wollongong and they advised me that demand was still very strong. That is good news indeed.

The principal act regulating this area is the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000—the ESOS Act—which protects the interests of students and Australia’s reputation for delivering quality education services by establishing a regulatory regime and standards for the provision of international education and training services, and by providing tuition and financial assurance. The ESOS Act also complements Australia’s migration laws by ensuring providers collect and report information relevant to the administration of the law relating to student visas. In August 2009 the Prime Minister in her then capacity as Minister for Education asked Bruce Baird AM to review the ESOS Act and its associated instruments and to recommend actions for ensuring Australia continued to offer world-class international education services.

Ahead of the Baird review, the ESOS Amendment Act 2010 required the re-registration of all existing Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students providers and the introduction of two new registration criteria, and required providers to publicly list the names of all of their education agents. This went to the problem that has been identified by many speakers: unscrupulous activity by a small number of institutions and their education agents. The Baird review was tasked to consider the need for enhancements to the ESOS legal framework in four key areas, as set out in the terms of reference. They included supporting the interests of students, delivering quality as the cornerstone of Australian education, and effective regulation and sustainability of the international education sector.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Continuing my speech, Mr Baird released his report Stronger, simpler, smarter ESOS: supporting international students in March 2010. The report contained 19 recommendations, including, firstly, more support for international students and improved information, secondly, stronger consumer protection mechanisms to ensure students are protected from unscrupulous operators, thirdly, improved regulation of Australia’s international education sector and, fourthly and finally, improved support for those who study and live in Australia, including having somewhere to go when problems arise. During debate in the Senate on amendments to the ESOS Act in 2010, the then Deputy Prime Minister committed to introducing an amendment bill for the Baird ESOS review recommendations. The initial changes proposed to be implemented in this bill will build on recent amendments to the ESOS Act and the re-registration measure to raise the bar for entry into the international education sector and give regulators greater flexibility to effectively manage risk and enforce compliance with legislation. This bill before the House today contains provisions that will, firstly, ensure that only those providers that have a capacity to offer quality education are permitted entry into the sector. Secondly, it will protect the interests of students in strengthening and simplifying the regulatory framework to ensure it can respond to the pressures international education faces now as well as those that it will face into the future.

Third, it will ensure resources are better targeted towards high-risk providers and release and reduce the regulatory burden for low-risk providers. It will complement the risk based approach agreed with states and territories for CRICOS re-registration. It will address non-compliant provider behaviour by extending the use of financial penalties to a broader range of non-compliance. It will allow the Commonwealth to publish targets and regular reporting on all regulatory activities taken under part 6 and part 7. Finally, it will extend the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Ombudsman to include students of private registered providers. Taken together, these amendments to strengthen ESOS will result in a more sustainable international education sector through better protection of international students and an ongoing commitment to continual quality improvement. These measures are important to protect the integrity of Australia’s education services sector, which is, as I said, of great value to our economy, including the economy in my electorate of Throsby. There is no doubt that in the past there have been issues with the integrity of the international education sector, and these measures in the bill today are a response to that. There have been allegations of immigration rorts, shonky providers, poor quality education services, college closures and exploitation of students. This legislation is a positive development to ensure that Australia’s international reputation is protected and these practices are stamped out.

In 2009-10 student visas were granted to 269,000 applicants. It is also relevant to note that new measures have been put in place to address integrity issues about some parts of the student visa program, including an increased number of interviews for offshore applicants, increased financial requirements and changes to the way in which course packages are assessed. In December 2010 the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced a strategic review of the student visa program. This strategic review of student visas complements the work being done in responding to the Baird ESOS review. The review of student visas is being done because the government recognises that there have been adverse impacts on the Australian international education sector as a result of the rising value of the Australian dollar, together with the ongoing impact of the global financial crisis on countries and the growing competition from alternative providers in countries such as the United States, New Zealand and Canada for international students.

As I mentioned, there are a number of international education providers in my electorate and I have had representations from a number of them, including St Paul’s International College in Moss Vale. This college in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales is a leading international school, providing services in education services, particularly to mainland China. I know that schools like St Paul’s have been struggling with the impacts of some aspects of these regulatory changes and the high Australian dollar in this highly competitive market. I have made representations on behalf of the school to the minister, and he is sympathetic to the situation facing schools in my electorate. We are hopeful that, as a result of the review, these issues will be brought forth and we will have a comprehensive response to the problems being faced by these providers. It is important that schools like St Paul’s continue to remain financially viable. I am assured that it is this government’s intention to find the right balance between our economic interests and the importance of an education and immigration system that are based on sound regulatory principles.

In conclusion, the goal of the Gillard Labor government is to invest in education and to build the best education system in the world. The ESOS amendment bill before the chamber today protects the interests of students and Australia’s reputation for delivering quality education services, and for these reasons I commend the bill to the House.

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