Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Reid for her question. She is a tremendous advocate for the university sector generally and particularly for Western Sydney University, along with Melissa McIntosh.

Today the Prime Minister announced that, from 1 December, fully vaccinated international students will be able to come into Australia and continue their studies or begin their studies at the beginning of next year. There are presently about 160,000 international students abroad who are waiting to do exactly that. This is good news. It's good news for the economy, it's good news for workforce shortages and it's good news for the education institutions themselves.

It's good news for the economy because international education is typically our third-biggest export market, constituting about $40 billion per year, about half of which is in fees and the other half is in expenditure from international students on local businesses, on accommodation, on restaurants and cafes, and on tourism. There's barely a small business in the CBDs of our cities that doesn't benefit from international students. Overall, as many know, 250,000 Australian jobs are supported by the international student market. So it's good for the economy to have these international students back.

It's good for workforce shortages because those international students fill many of the jobs which are vacant and otherwise wouldn't be filled. International students are typically allowed to do 20 hours per week of work when they're here, and when they're not studying they can work full time. We have very significant workforce shortages across this country, particularly in the services area, and they will be able to come back and immediately fill some of those shortages so that those services can be open and remain open for Australians to benefit from and enjoy as they're used to.

Of course this decision is good for the education institutions themselves. It's good for the institutions because international students can support the social fabric of those institutions and, importantly, provide a significant source of revenue. This has been broadly supported by people already, including the Business Council of Australia, which says it will be a 'massive boost to Australia's economic recovery' and it is making sure skills shortages don't hold Australia back. Catriona Jackson from Universities Australia has also warmly welcomed this.

It was a tough decision for this government to close the borders back in March of last year, first to China and then to the rest of the world, but it's the right decision now to reopen them, consistent with the national plan and consistent with Australians getting vaccinated. They have done their side of the bargain, and we are doing ours.

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