Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Australia certainly needs a sensible and practical approach to international education. However, I'm greatly concerned by the government's narrative, characterising this bill, the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024, as a response to the shonks and crooks in the sector. There are over 1,400 private education and VET providers, many of which are actually high-quality providers. The Labor government itself is far more responsible than these high-quality providers for the majority of the international educational challenges. It is an indictment on the Labor government during a cost-of-living crisis here in Australia—a cost-of-living and inflation crisis caused directly by Labor's $315 billion excessive increase in spending that has driven up the cost of everything, including mortgages, housing, rent and accommodation. At a time of critical housing shortages, Labor has made this situation so much worse by simply opening the floodgates to record numbers and levels of international students. Labor has actually doubled the number of foreign students studying in Australia, from 336,845 in March 2022 to 713,144 in February 2024. There's no doubt that this has created a mess entirely of Labor's own making.

Even worse for me as a regional MP is that, at the same time as Labor has allowed record numbers of international students into major city universities, what was confirmed at recent Senate inquiry hearings was that regional and smaller universities and private education providers have had their student visa approvals reduced by 73,000 this year. That I see as discriminatory against the regional universities. Once again, as we see in so many of Labor's policies, the regions are bearing the brunt of Labor's discrimination. It's all about those inner-city elites and the big end of town for Labor.

Just compare the numbers: at the University of Sydney almost half of all students enrolled in semester 1 this year were the 32,800 international students who were granted visas. Keep in mind that the University of Sydney already receives the majority of taxpayer funding of all our universities, around $1 billion every year. Actually, it's 47 per cent of federal taxpayer university funding. Considering the social licence with the Australian people needed to keep supporting higher education, this is the same university that facilitated antisemitic hate, incitement and vilification on its campus, where the UK proscribed extremist terrorist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir infiltrated the pro-Palestinian camp on the university campus itself. This is the same university that gave the Muslim Students Association a dedicated seat on the university's working group with access to defence and security related industries and research. Last week, hundreds of students voted to support anti-Israel motions, including support for a single Palestine state, from the river to the sea, effectively supporting the destruction of Israel and its people. Appalling, disgusting, and discriminatory treatment of students that did not support the motion is what we saw. How on earth can Jewish students and staff be safe on the University of Sydney campus?

The shadow minister was entirely correct when she said freedom of speech and academic freedom are vitally important, but this does not include the right to trample on the rights of others. Equally, I expect all research and business entities, particularly those engaged in AUKUS or other defence related industries, to reconsider their involvement with the University of Sydney as a result.

All of these instances bring into question the social licence compact the university has with the Australian people and Australian taxpayers. This is the university that the government granted 32,800 international student visas to at the same time regional and smaller universities and private education providers have had their student visa approvals slashed by about 73,000 this year alone. In fact Australia's most prestigious universities have had a 16 per cent increase in their number of foreign students. Not only has this affected our regional universities; what this does very directly is decrease the accommodation and rental properties available, particularly for our regional students who have no choice but to study at city universities. The reason for this is that the courses are not available. Either there are no universities in their region or the courses they need to study, such as medicine, law, pharmacy or engineering, are not available at those regional universities.

But the knock-on effect in a practical sense of Labor's doubling of overseas student numbers is that our regional students not only have to compete for the accommodation. I talk to these families all of the time. Often it's totally unaffordable accommodation, if they can find it. They also have to compete for the jobs they desperately need to help support themselves when they have to live in the city and away from their homes and families. Many of our regional students cannot and do not receive youth allowance or any other form of government support to help with the ever-increasing accommodation and other costs they've had to bear by having to live away from home and with the significant inflation issues.

I strongly believe these same city based universities need to do far more in supporting our regional and remote students. I've looked at the reporting of numbers of regional and remote students in various city based university annual reports. Statistics were provided for international students—onshore, offshore—and research training programs, but there were no statistics on the numbers of regional and remote students. In one I read, the international student experience was detailed but not the regional and remote student experience. Why on earth not? Every university should be not only providing this information but actively targeting and supporting the enrolment of these Australian students from our regions.

I read in the Universities Accord document that regional and remote students make up only 11 per cent of the Group of Eight university cohorts. Our students in the regions deserve to have a higher education. Surely this, in great part, is why our universities receive federal taxpayer funding—to actually educate Australians, our domestic students and those who come from regional and remote Australia, who find it so hard to even get to university.

I hope these same institutions respect the fact that our students come from regional Australia, where the majority of the wealth this nation is actually produced. The contributions to the economy from resources, mining and agriculture underpin Australia's economy and, in large part, pay for the education, health, infrastructure and general government services that we all rely on. Our students from regional areas absolutely deserve a fair go from our higher education system.

Another problem with Labor's record number of general immigration—it's almost a million people Labor have brought into Australia—is the really serious shortage of broader housing across the board. It's not just a housing shortage; it's actually a housing crisis. I see and hear about it every day in my electorate of Forrest, in the south-west of WA. That nearly one million extra people is adding massive pressure, as I said, on health, education, transport and other infrastructure and services.

All of this may suit the government's political agenda, but it actually puts at risk the social licence that's needed from the Australian people—the social licence that ensures ongoing public support not only for the international student business model but also for our skilled migration program. Part of this social licence is based on ensuring that the students who are accepted are genuinely students, not those people who are simply using the student visa system and process for an entirely different reason.

It actually concerns me greatly that there has been a threefold increase in the number of international students who have come to Australia on a student visa but, once here, have sought asylum. That these numbers have increased threefold should be of major concern for the government. These people are clearly coming to Australia under false pretences and, once here, are using our courts and our systems to seek and claim asylum. I note, added to this, that Chinese students not only are having their visas granted at the highest level but also are the top nationality making asylum claims once they're here in Australia.

Unfortunately, overall, Labor has misled Australians by claiming that the number of migrants will actually go down. However, actual figures, not projected figures, show an increase in these numbers, and the government certainly needs to take this issue seriously. There is no doubt, as the Reserve Bank has acknowledged, that Labor's massive additional $315 billion in additional spending is not only driving inflation but keeping the basic costs of living for Australians much higher for longer. Hardworking Australians struggling to make ends meet are having to deal with the cost of housing being up by 14 per cent. I see that recent ABS figures and statistics show that the average Australian mortgage increased by $56,000 last financial year.

In my home state of Western Australia, average mortgages are at a record high, increasing by 20 per cent to $100,000 over those 12 months. South Australia and Queensland have seen similar increases. In general, these same mortgage holders, who are paying at least an extra $1,000 every week, are seeing their basic costs of living increasing as well. When you consider that for a rural and regional family trying to send their young people to a city university because they have no choice, this not only adds to the cost for their family and the cost of living but reduces the ability of that family to be able to send their kids to a university. The cost of education is up 10.9 per cent, and it's actually even more for regional students having to study at a city university. Food is up 11.4 per cent, and electricity is up 21.5 per cent. Insurances are going through the roof.

With this legislation, the minister will set caps on the number of international students who can study in Australia at any one time, but we haven't had any details on how the minister will actually apply these caps in this legislation. We do know that the caps will come into force on 1 January, and there have been widespread concerns raised about these bills. On that basis, I conclude my remarks.

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