Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is working to support the return of international students to Australia; and why this is good for businesses and jobs, including in my home state of South Australia?

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I thank the member—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You need to lend him a tie!

Government members interjecting—

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I respond to all the interjections. On behalf of the House, I congratulate the Richmond Football Club.

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Point of order, Mr Speaker: you cannot allow this outrage in this question time today! And the tie's got to come off, as a prop!

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not during question time, it won't. The minister has the call.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We definitely have seen the creation of another era. We've had the Hafey era and now we have the Hardwick era. We also have the Dusty era!

Mr Marles interjecting—

I take the interjection from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but I say 'Go, Tigers!'

In 2019, more than 750,000 international students studied in Australia, generating over $40 billion in export revenue—8.2 per cent of our total export revenue—and this supported nearly 250,000 jobs. In the member for Boothby's home state of South Australia, international students are worth about $2 billion to the state's economy. So it's incredibly important that we do everything we can to get international students back next year.

Currently, this year, there are 664,000 international students on student visas, year to date to August 2020, a fall of five per cent compared to the same period in 2019. The market has stood up incredibly well this year, but, obviously, we are going to have to take steps to make sure that we can stop it falling even further and get it back on its feet. As of 5 October, 75 per cent of student visa holders were in Australia. Pre COVID, we were on track to overtake the United Kingdom as the second most popular destination for international students in this country.

So what are we doing? The Northern Territory is about to commence a pilot in November. South Australia is well progressed in planning for its pilot, which we hope will be up and running in November. New South Wales is keen to see a return of international students by early 2021. So we are continuing to work with the states and territories to ensure that we can get international students back next year. The Prime Minister has led a discussion in national cabinet to make sure that everyone is committed to improving the situation and that we can get the circumstances right to get international students back.

Of course, our No. 1 priority remains getting Australians back here before Christmas, and that will continue to be our focus. Get Australians back before Christmas, and then work to get international students here for semester 1. I commend the states and territories for the cooperative way that they're working with the Commonwealth government on this. With 250,000 jobs at stake, we want to make sure that those jobs will be back when it comes to semester 1 next year.

Of course, our No. 1 priority remains getting Australians back before Christmas, and that will continue to be our focus—get Australians back before Christmas and then work to get international students here for semester 1. I commend the states and territories for the cooperative way in which they're working with the Commonwealth government on this. There are 250,000 jobs at stake. We want to make sure that those jobs will be back for semester 1 next year.