Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

The education system—or the education export sector, as it's often referred to—is an important economic contributor to the country, but I question the veracity of the notion that it is actually an export. Apart from tuition fees, all other economic contributions are typically the consequence of students working while here; hence, the figures of $50 billion and more injected into the economy, as proffered by the education sector, are wildly inaccurate and, I would say, perhaps misleading. Celebrating the education sector as an export industry has created an environment for opportunistic agents and providers, many of whom are illegitimate, and they exploit the system. Overwhelmingly, evidence shows us that there are sham arrangements that provide nothing more than a vehicle for people to obtain a workaround for entry into our country. This is not good for the reputation of our education system, and it's certainly not good for the many hardworking Australians who are finding it difficult to find accommodation. The upshot of our grand education export push is the arrival of more people into our cities and regions who cannot be realistically accommodated. I would also say that it is not good for the many vulnerable people who come here whose expectations, perhaps, are not met and who, therefore, are somewhat forced into servitude.

If the education sector is the beneficiary of excess students, then it should also bear some of the cost, but it doesn't. It's not required for institutions, agents or indeed providers to match student accommodation with inbound student numbers. Instead, the economy and the community wear that cost. In essence, the sector's economic gain becomes the economic pain of the community. To put that into perspective, in the year to date, to March 2024, there were 741,224 international student enrolments in Australia. This is a 16 per cent increase in enrolments over the same period in 2019, pre-COVID.

In my home state of South Australia in 2008, there were 13,329 international students in higher education courses and 4,105 in VET courses. If we look at the 2023 figures, we've gone to 24,775 in higher education and a whopping 17,353 international students in VET courses. It's gone from 4,105 up to 17,353. This obviously demonstrates a significant increase. With that, we can have problems. While the tills of the education sector are awash with cash, mums and dads nationwide are emptying their bank accounts as rental costs increase exponentially. There is no doubt that numbers of close to three-quarters of a million extra people coming to Australia to study put upward pressure on these costs. I appreciate that, particularly in the higher education sector, overseas students are an important part of the economic equation, driving down student study costs—or that's how it is argued. However, we need to carefully balance that with our obligations to provide educational opportunities for our children, which must come first over the economic paydirt of institutions. Surely, as I said, our children must come first.

It's also important and incumbent upon us that, as a nation, if we are going to offer educational services, those services must provide high-quality and reliable qualifications—no ghost colleges or visa factories. We've all heard stories of colleges with handwritten signs, with no lights on and with few or no students in the doors. These illegitimate entities are nothing more than profiteers of desperate people seeking work visas in low-skilled work, creating a trail of misery. They are no different from the human traffickers who sell a lie to desperate people seeking a new life in a safe country. The fact that many of these illegitimate providers are not required to provide details on student attendance is paving the way for rorting. These providers are not only exploiting the vulnerable but also exploiting everyday Australians, who are being priced out of rental accommodation. This is unfair and un-Australian.

This bill seeks to curtail the worst offenders of exploitation. I support this bill, but I implore the government to properly review the role of the so-called education export and its contribution to housing shortages.

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