Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians understand the power and importance of education. We value what it can do to open the doors of opportunity and change lives. This year's budget demonstrates the Albanese Labor government's commitment to Australian education, with strong investments in building a better and fairer education system from early education and school education through to tertiary education. We also take pride in being a global leader in education exports. Our education sector is valued at $48 billion, making it our fourth largest export. However, international education is not just an economic asset. It fosters friendships and cultural exchange, as students who come to study here often develop a deep affection for our country. They return to their home countries with not only new knowledge and qualifications but also a positive impression of Australia.

Unfortunately, the pandemic severely impacted our international education sector, reducing its value from $40 billion to $22 billion. The students are now returning, but so are unscrupulous operators looking to exploit them. This bill, the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024, is a critical response to protect the sector and maintain Australia's reputation as a premier education destination. The Albanese Labor government is deeply committed to lifting the quality and assuring the integrity of our international education sector. This commitment is about not just maintaining our reputation on the global stage but also ensuring that every student who comes to Australia receives a world-class education delivered with the highest standards of integrity. The Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 is a testament to this commitment. It continues the critical work of enhancing our education services, aligning with the policy directions outlined in the draft International Education and Skills Strategic Framework, which is currently under consultation with the sector.

The bill draws on the findings of the 2023 interim report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade inquiry into Australia's tourism and international education sectors. This inquiry solicited input from a wide range of stakeholders, including education agents, regarding integrity concerns within the international education sector. The committee discovered serious cases of active collusion between non-genuine students, agents and education providers. This included instances where education agents steered genuine students towards unsuitable courses that were financially beneficial for both the agent, in terms of commissions, and the provider, in terms of recruitment figures. The inquiry recommended targeted measures to eliminate disreputable providers and to demonstrate Australia's commitment to maintaining the integrity of international education.

The evidence gathered also revealed that the highly competitive student recruitment market puts providers at a disadvantage and encourages the payment of large commissions to agents. The committee found a compelling case to mandate that providers disclose any commission paid to their agents. The committee also learnt that some education providers are complicit in funnelling non-genuine students into ghost schools, where agents collaborate with providers to enrol students in courses they never attend. In some cases, courses are exclusively offered to overseas students, which may be a sign of poor quality. In particular, the inquiry identified persistent and significant issues within the private VET sector. Despite these problems, data shows that VET sector growth has significantly outpaced other sectors. The VET sector's growth rate from December 2019 to December 2023 was 16.6 per cent, compared to a 2.4 per cent growth rate for all enrolments. This report underscores the need for sustainable growth in our international education sector, coupled with stringent quality and integrity measures.

This bill also addresses urgent integrity issues highlighted by the recent Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System, known as the Nixon review, and the review of the migration system. These reviews brought to light significant concerns regarding the exploitation within our visa and education systems. The Nixon review found that some providers were facilitating student movements for the sole purpose of maximising profit rather than in the best interests of the student. Others sought to profit from non-genuine students using student visas to gain access to Australia for work instead of study. In some cases, education agents were even found to be involved in visa exploitation and human trafficking. Allegations of sex trafficking and foreign worker exploitation were also reported, including against overseas students.

In developing its recommendations, the Nixon review relied on findings from Operation Inglenook, which was launched in November 2022 following investigations by 60 Minutes, the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald as part of the joint 'Trafficked' series. Operation Inglenook's mandate was to examine the systemic misuse of Australia's visa system for exploitative purposes. As of 31 March 2023, Operation Inglenook had investigated over 175 persons of interest related to the exploitation of the temporary visa program, leading to more than 57 border alerts. Of these, 93 were foreign nationals under scrutiny, and the Department of Home Affairs had flagged 87 high-risk visa applications. By July 2023, the Australian Border Force reported that the investigations had resulted in 22 visa cancellations, the identification of unlawful noncitizens and the denial of immigration clearances. Education agents and international education providers were among those targeted.

While the figures from Operation Inglenook are relatively small compared to the more than 500,000 student visa holders in Australia, the seriousness of the identified cases is very clear. The situation is further complicated by the vulnerabilities faced by international students, including language barriers, financial instability, limited knowledge of Australian law and fear of deportation. Estimating the number of overseas students who are vulnerable to, or victims of, exploitation is challenging due to the hidden and illegal nature of trafficking. The Australian Institute of Criminology estimates that, for every victim detected in Australia, there are about four who remain undetected. Factors such as mistrust of authorities, fear of deportation, failure of individuals to recognise themselves as victims and professionals' inability to properly identify victims contribute to the difficulty in assessing the extent of trafficking in Australia.

Likewise, the migration review found clear evidence of systemic exploitation of the visa system involving overseas students. Education agents and complicit education providers were found to have systemically moved students from temporary visa to temporary visa without any realistic hope of meeting requirements to gain permanent residency. Often, private providers in the VET sector would offer lower fees to deliberately incentivise non-genuine students to apply for a student visa solely to gain access to the Australian labour market. These revelations demanded an immediate and robust response.

At the heart of this bill is a comprehensive framework designed to bolster quality and integrity across the sector. Some of these key provisions include the expanding fit and proper considerations. Regulators will now have to consider cross-ownership and control of providers and agents to prevent collusion and exploitation of students. Regulators must also take into account whether a provider is under investigation for a specific event, such as human trafficking, slavery or slavery-like practices. This measure is crucial in ensuring that only those with the highest standards of integrity can operate in this sector.

Another is access to agent performance data. Providers will have greater access to data on agent performance, including information on student transfers and education agent commissions. This transparency is essential in holding agents accountable and ensuring they act in the best interest of students. A further example is that there will be ministerial powers to pause registrations. The Minister for Education will have the authority to pause applications for registering providers or courses for overseas students. This provision allows for swift action in response to any emerging concerns.

In terms of requirements for domestic course delivery, providers will need to deliver courses to domestic students in Australia for at least two consecutive years before offering courses to overseas students. This amendment aims to deter non-genuine providers from entering the international education sector purely to facilitate migration outcomes by requiring that they demonstrate a genuine intention to deliver educational outcomes for students. Providers that are seeking registration to provide English language intensive courses for overseas students or standalone foundation programs will be exempt from the new registration requirement.

Providers that have not delivered courses to overseas students for 12 consecutive months will have their registration automatically cancelled. This measure prevents the misuse of education provider status as a cover for fraudulent activities. Providers being investigated for serious regulatory offences can be automatically suspended from enrolling new international students. This provision ensures that students are not exposed to potential risks while investigations are ongoing.

The bill also sets out a new definition of 'education agent' to prevent people or organisations from falling through the cracks. Education agents are defined by the activities they engage in rather than their relationship to a provider, as many agents do not have formal agreements with specific providers. Notably, permanent officers or employees of a provider are not captured in the definition as they receive a salary and employment benefits from the provider. For example, a permanent employee of a university who works in the university's student recruitment team will not be treated as an education agent.

Sustainable growth in the international education sector is a key objective of this bill. To this end, the legislation grants the minister several powers to ensure that the number and distribution of overseas student enrolments align with government objectives. These powers include setting enrolment limits. The minister can determine limits on overseas student enrolments for specific classes of providers or individual courses. These limits can be expressed in specific numbers or calculated through specific methods, providing flexibility to address varying needs and circumstances. In setting enrolment limits, the Minister for Education will take into account the relevance of the courses to Australia's skills needs and the supply of purpose built student accommodation. To ensure compliance, providers that exceed their enrolment limit will have their registration automatically suspended.

In terms of exemptions and special notices, the minister can exclude certain courses or providers from these limits and issue unique enrolment limits to individual providers as needed. Schools with a smaller number of overseas students are also exempt. Applications for extensions may be made to ensure that genuine providers are not affected or inconvenienced.

The bill allows for the automatic suspension or cancellation of courses that have systemic quality issues, that offer limited value to Australia's critical skill needs or where it is in the public interest to do so. This includes where the provider has not delivered a course to overseas students in a period of 12 consecutive months. This amendment will address integrity issues posed by dormant providers who are using their registration for fraudulent purposes and providers that are not demonstrating a genuine commitment to the delivery of courses to overseas students.

Following the consultation process, the final international education and skills strategic framework will outline the government's approach to implementing these enrolment limits, ensuring that our international education sector continues to grow sustainably and with integrity.

In conclusion, this bill protects and strengthens the right of education and recognises its important personal, societal, economic and intellectual benefits across the world. This bill enhances student rights by implementing safeguards for educational institutions to guarantee the delivery of high-quality education to international students. The bill implements changes to the fit-and-proper test to specifically target those providers and agents who might seek to exploit overseas students and introduces more effective penalties for misconduct, including automatic suspension of registrations when warranted.

The requirement for providers to disclose any commissions paid to education agents for student recruitment, coupled with improved transparency measures, helps identify and address poor agent performance early on. Additionally, these amendments support the right to education by restricting the recruitment of non-genuine students and ensuring that students seeking education in Australia receive top-quality instruction and protection.

The Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 is a robust and necessary piece of legislation. It not only addresses current issues within our international education sector but also sets the foundation for sustainable, high-quality growth in the future. By enhancing regulatory oversight, increasing transparency and ensuring rigorous quality standards, this bill will help maintain Australia's reputation as a premier destination for international students. It will ensure that every student who chooses Australia can be confident in receiving an education that is not only world class but delivered with integrity and care. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context