Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many international students choose to live in my electorate, and I get the opportunity to talk to them regularly—students like Kevin, who is with me in the chamber today and is a final- year accounting student at Deakin University in my electorate. Chisholm is home to two very large campuses, Monash University and Deakin University. They have many international students. Because of that, many students choose to come and live in my electorate, to work in in my electorate, and to add to the economic benefit of my community. It is good to see that over the last couple of years there has been a rise in the number of international students coming back to Australian universities. But all of this could be put at risk by the government's changes in the budget to university funding and to fees. Many international students will be put off coming to Australia. They already being attracted to places like Canada, New Zealand, the UK and Singapore—not only because of the cost impost of living in Australia but also because of the fee increases they fear and the recent changes to migration laws. When I ask international university students why they come here, they tell me that Australia is a beautiful country and its immigration policy is great. They wish to migrate and live in Australia after they graduate. But recent changes to immigration are making that more and more difficult for them. They are also looking at the impost, the change to the recent family reunion visa, and saying, 'If I come and settle, I will never be able to bring my parents out.' The international student market is our largest export market and we should not put this at risk.