Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Tourism and International Education, Senator Colbeck. Can the minister inform the Senate about the benefits of international education to Australia?

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

I thank Senator McKenzie—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

The recreational fishers were in the building this morning and someone has obviously left the lid off the fish and chips after lunch today, I tell you!

Senator Sterle interjecting—

Read the Hansard later, Senator Sterle. International education provides a wealth of opportunities not just for students but also for the society more generally. We understand that international students offer a bridge between nations and we have seen great examples of that. In fact, in the last week when I was—

Opposition senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left!

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

Last week when I was in Indonesia I had the opportunity to visit a number of Australian alumni who were—

Senator Jacinta Collins interjecting—

Unfortunately, Senator Collins, I was not in Indonesia the week before the last Senate question time—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ignore the interjections, minister.

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

There was an opportunity for me to meet with alumni from Australia and also a number of representatives from Indonesia who had studied here in Australia, and the relationships that that has built and the opportunities to build that bridge between the two nations has been extremely important—

An honourable senator interjecting—

Senator, if you believe that a business trip taking 54 Australian industry players to Indonesia for Australian Business Week is a joke, you ought to give up. This was a very important delegation taken by the Australian government to Indonesia last week to promote Australian business and education into the Indonesian market— (Time expired)

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister update the Senate on the economic contribution that international education makes to Australia?

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

Last week we released statistics from the ABS which indicated a value of international education to the Australian economy of $18.8 billion. It is our third largest export and it plays a significant role in the Australian economy. Senator McKenzie, your home state of Victoria actually brought in $5.6 billion for the financial year 2014-15. In addition to the $18.8 billion contribution to the national economy, there are significant other benefits. For every international student who comes to Australia there are 2.3 visitors who come to Australia on an annual basis. This creates an extra 130,000 jobs into the Australian economy and plays an important role in the government's objectives of seeing international education as a key— (Time expired)

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. What is the government doing to further promote international education is a key export?

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

Earlier in question time my colleague Senator Sinodinos talked about the work we are doing on free trade agreements. In the Chinese free trade agreement one of the things that became available to Australian international education providers was the opportunity to establish in China, to grow that market. Also, we are having with discussions with India. Minister Robb has already said there will be a significant service offering as part of that free trade agreement that we are negotiating with India. That is something we are also pursuing into that market.

We announced last week that we are recommencing our economic partnership arrangements with Indonesia. In Indonesia there is significant demand for education. They have 54 million students in grades K to 12 and there is a huge demand for vocational education and training and that was justified by the people who came in the delegation last week. (Time expired)