Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will be brief, as Senator Xenophon put the argument very well in terms of why the government should accept this amendment and debunked the claims within the Deputy Prime Minister’s letter and also the statements made by Senator Carr in this chamber today and some three weeks ago when we first discussed the issue.

This was about trying to give students the confidence that we do have a robust international education sector that would look after them. The claims that this would be a bottomless pit of money are simply not true. Senator Xenophon has pointed specifically to the clause which refers to the discretion of the minister. That has not been accurately interpreted by the government, at least as evidenced in their comments in relation to it.

Obviously the opposition are not going to insist on this amendment. I understand why we need to get this piece of legislation through, but I think it is very important for us to remember that this is only dealing with one small part of the crisis within the international education sector. As an election looms closer and closer, we need to start seeing here in the parliament legislation that deals with the bigger issues in the international education sector, because the re-registration of some of these colleges by 31 December is not in itself going to fix the problem. We need to see the government respond to the Baird review as soon as it is released in March. We need to see the government respond to the Senate inquiry that had a unanimous report. Every voice on that inquiry, including from an ombudsman and from both sides of the chamber, said that we needed massive reform in the area. We need to see the government respond to those things. I will be introducing a private member’s bill to introduce an ombudsman precisely because I do not believe the government are responding to these issues as fast as they could be.

I am disappointed that the government is not supporting this amendment. Obviously, Senator Xenophon and the Greens will insist on it.