Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multiculturalism. How is the Albanese Labor government facilitating the return of international students to Australia?

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Member for Bennelong for the question. I know this is an area that he has a very keen interest in. His electorate is one that is very focused on the higher education sector. He knows, and we all know on this side of the House, that our Australian universities deliver world-class education to domestic students and also to international students. We also know, as the Minister for Education just advised the House, how absolutely vital international education is. That was demonstrated in the focus on international education in the very successful visits to India embarked upon by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Education in recent weeks.

We also know that international education sector bore a particularly heavy burden through the pandemic. The lack of a plan for when borders reopened created massive uncertainty for our universities, TAFEs and other education providers. Due to the lack of a plan, teaching and training that next generation, building our capacities across so many sectors of our economy, were subject to enormous uncertainty because the migration system was in crisis, with almost a million visas in the backlog. That was symptomatic of a migration system in disarray after nearly a decade of neglect.

We have been getting on with the job of fixing that. The visa backlog is down. It is continuing to fall. I'm very pleased to announce that in 2023 to date we have had a record-breaking year for the student visa program. We are getting this back on track, meeting the challenge the Minister for Education was just telling the House about. I'm pleased to say that levels of interest in studying in Australia are even higher than pre-pandemic. We are restoring confidence in our visa system, ensuring that students who are looking not just to Australia but around the world, can have confidence that if they apply to come here they can get an answer quickly.

So far this program year more than 380,000 visas have been granted to students—40 per cent higher than in 2019-20 before the borders closed. This is because we're investing in our visa system, because we understand that we need people to want to come here. We need to welcome people here. We don't need to tell students to go home, as the former government shamefully did. We need to recognise that there is still work to be done to repair the damage that was done. We know, though, that we are making a real difference. Student visas lodged outside Australia are now being turned around on average in 13 days, and 80 per cent of applications in the department are now less than two months old. There is more to be done, but we are getting on with the work of restoring this vital sector in our national interest.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.