Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Tourism and International Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McKenzie for her question. We all very well understand her interest in education as an issue within Australia but also international education. International education is a vital part of the Australian economy. It contributes in excess of $18 billion to the Australian economy every year and supports in excess of 130,000 jobs. But it does more than that. It creates important relationships with those who have been here to undertake that international education and also, with the reverse Colombo Plan, provides the opportunity for students to travel to other nations and develop relationships over there. The students, while they are here, make a significant contribution to the Australian economy. In fact, in the context of tourism, there are 2.3 visitations per student per year for tourism purposes that come directly out of the international education offering.

I was in the Cook Islands just a couple of weeks ago conducting negotiations with Pacific island nations around the PACER Plus program. The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands happened to have been educated at the University of Tasmania. It became a very, very easy conversation, to sit down and have a discussion with him about trade negotiations, because of that relationship and the fact that he was an alumnus of the University of Tasmania. The trade minister from Tonga, I think it was, also did his degree at the University of Tasmania. So there are a number of people who have obviously come to Australia for their education, and it makes it very easy for us to conduct those relationships that we are building around the region because of the links that have been built out of international education.