Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024. This bill is yet another example of the Albanese Labor government's piecemeal approach to policymaking. It also tells us that Labor has badly botched the management of our migration system. This is a complete mess of the government's own making. The government's opening of the floodgates to record levels of international students is fuelling the housing crisis and causing unprecedented chaos in the international education sector. The migration and housing crisis is a crisis of the Albanese Labor government's own making. The situation we find ourselves in is a predictable consequence of successive policy decisions, a lack of strategic direction and a chronic inability to take difficult decisions in the national interest.

Labor's piecemeal approach does nothing to address the structural issues it has created. The proposed cap in this bill before the parliament will not even touch the sides of this problem. Labor has lost control of our migration system. According to the latest ABS data, net overseas migration is on track to have exceeded one million just in Labor's first two years, a record level and over 70 per cent more than any other two-year period. Net overseas migration was 925,000 in Labor's first seven quarters, and the latest available data shows the influx hasn't slowed. From January to September 2024, there were a further 391,815 net permanent and long-term arrivals, the highest September year-to-date on record despite Labor claiming all year that it was taking steps to get migration back under control.

Since the Albanese government was elected, based on the latest numbers, the number of international students studying in Australia has almost doubled. In May 2022, when the Albanese government was elected, there were 474,493 international students in Australia. By May 2023, this number had increased to 606,812, a growth of 28 per cent. At Senate estimates, just a few weeks ago, the Department of Education admitted that the number of international students has now risen in this country to more than 800,000—to 803,639. Some students are on their eighth, ninth or 10th student visa, using it as a backdoor to stay in Australia to work. As we know, many of these students then seek to leverage protection visas to extend their stay. Under Labor, 661 student visa holders have claimed asylum, with a record of 516 applications in August 2024. Fifteen per cent of all onshore asylum claims under Labor have been made by international students. That's 15 per cent of all claims.

While we have experienced record migration since Labor came to power, our housing supply isn't even close to keeping up. That drives up the cost of housing and rents, which further increases inflation as Australians endure so much cost-of-living pain under this incompetent Labor government. The Australian Bureau of Statistics highlighted that just 40,293 homes commenced construction in the second quarter of 2024, for a 12-month total of just 158,752 homes, the weakest year since 2012. In Labor's first two years, just 350,000 dwellings were completed. Yet Labor is on track to have brought in over a million net overseas migrants. What is Labor's plan to close this gap and free up desperately needed housing for Australians?

I want to also raise concerns about the cap because Labor talks a lot about the new overseas student commencement cap of 270,000, yet Labor does not talk about the number of exempt student categories, which in fact will drive up that number based on the 2023 figures to more than 400,000 new student commencements. That is because ELICOS is exempt, and in 2023 they had 89,186 commencements. Non-award courses are exempt, and there were 24,380 commencements in 2023. Schools are exempt. There were nearly 8,000 international student commencements in our school system in 2023. Higher-degree-by-research students are exempt, and there were some 6,991 student commencements in this category in 2023. The Pacific and Timor-Leste students are also exempt, and that is another 5,235 commencements based on the 2023 figures. There are several other exempt categories as well. So, based on the 2023 figures, we're not talking about new commencements of 270,000; we're talking about new commencements of well in excess of 400,000. So Labor is not telling the Australian people the full story.

We are in the midst of a housing and infrastructure crisis, while migration continues at a record pace on the Albanese government's watch. The Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Michele Bullock, has acknowledged the impact of migration on housing, for which supply can't rapidly expand to match supercharged demand, stating:

Yes, new migrants add to demand and there has been that element of it. They have certainly added to pressure on the housing market …

The coalition has maintained the importance of a cap on international students, because of Labor's immigration chaos, but the Albanese government's approach is incompetent and riddled with secrecy and uncertainty. We know that this cap is not going to work. Based on the numbers presented by the government, numbers will go up, not down. We cannot support measures which will only serve to compound this crisis of the government's making. And that is exactly what this bill does.

According to ABS data, in September 2024 there were 47,230 international student arrivals to Australia, an increase of 2,130 students compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. The number of student arrivals in September 2024 was 4.3 per cent higher than the pre-COVID levels in September 2019. In a 12 November 2024 media release, the Institute of Public Affairs stated:

Net permanent and long-term arrivals from January to September 2024 was 391,850. This was the highest September year-to-date on record, above the previous record set in 2023, which was 390,580.

The federal government is on track to have delivered, they say, 'an unsustainable migration intake' of over one million in their first two years—over 70 per cent more, as I say, than in any other previous two-year period. The flood of new arrivals is still continuing. Net permanent and long-term arrivals in the 12 months to September 2024 were also the highest on record, at 449,060 net arrivals. This is five per cent higher than the previous record set in 2023.

So this is an absolute mess—and, I have to say, after the Senate has conducted four separate hearings into this bill, when the government, using smoke and mirrors, had the temerity to announce this without providing any of the detail. And we saw the full impact of this. We know that this student cap that the government has proposed—which includes a whole range of exempt categories which, of course, are not included in the 270,000—is not going to do anything. We know, and we can see from this bill and the government's decisions to date, that the government is not serious about driving down migration. The government is not serious about fixing its own mess.

The government is not serious about giving more Australians access to affordable housing. During the Senate inquiry into Labor's immigration mess, we heard compelling evidence that 500,000 foreign students have been forced into the private rental market. This is not disputed by the government. Look at the big pressure points in Melbourne and Sydney, in suburbs like Glebe near the University of Sydney where foreign students now number 52 per cent of all students at least, from what we can ascertain. Rents have gone up in Glebe by 17 per cent in just 12 months. In Clayton, which is the home of Monash University, rents have gone up a staggering 20 per cent in 12 months. As I said, we heard compelling evidence about the mismanagement of foreign students and the impact that this has had on housing, particularly in large metropolitan centres. I also wish to reiterate that Labor's 'big Australia' policy has completely failed to safeguard the national interest—including the right to find an affordable home, to see a doctor and to access other essential services.

In contrast to this hapless Prime Minister and this incompetent government, a coalition government would deliver decisive action to reduce migration. By getting the migration policy settings right, the coalition could free up more houses for Australians, reduce congestion on our roads and relieve pressure on existing services. We absolutely cannot support measures which will only serve to compound the immigration and housing crisis of the government's making, and that's exactly what this bill does. As I said, in the four Senate hearings held as part of the inquiry into this bill, which we had to force the government to agree to, we heard so many stories from various stakeholders.

We know that this bill is smoke and mirrors. Imagine bringing forward a bill then the government putting forward a proposal to say, 'Don't worry, we're going to tackle migration.' We know that with the ministerial discretion inherent in this bill the minister can bring forward the cap that he chooses—which is of course what has occurred—and we know that that student cap is 270,000 plus at least another 100,000 who would come into this country in exempt categories; it may well be more than that. We also know—this has been suggested to me—that the government took an initial cap to cabinet of 250,000 and then apparently was telling stakeholders, 'Don't worry; we've given you another 20,000 on the cap.' As I say, this is smoke and mirrors. This demonstrates that this government has completely failed the Australian people. Every government has a responsibility to conduct its migration program in the national interest. This government has failed, and that is why we are opposing this bill.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This bill to cap international students is the very definition of reckless policy. This bill, the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024, is migration policy disguised as an education bill. It is a poorly thought through and chaotic plan to cap international student numbers. There was little or no consultation with the sector on the methodology which underpins this bill. It shamefully conflates the presence of international students with the housing crisis that they did not cause, it allows for unprecedented ministerial overreach and intervention, it harms international students and it damages Australia's reputation as a destination for international students. It will result in thousands of job losses, and it is dramatically bad for the economy. Capping international student numbers has little to do with quality or integrity. There is absolutely no redeeming feature in these international student caps. If you needed a manual on how not to do policy, you have it right here in this bill, courtesy of the Albanese Labor government and Minister Clare.

There is so much that needs to be done to pull the higher education sector out of the crisis that it has been in for years. The Labor government could have chosen to fully fund universities and TAFEs and ensure they provide secure jobs with fair pay and the best conditions for learning and teaching, but no. The Labor government could have chosen to provide proper funding for research, but no. The Labor government could wipe all student debt and make uni and TAFE free, but no. They won't even legislate to wipe the promised 20 per cent of student debt until after the election, in the hope of harvesting some votes. The Labor government could have chosen right now, when they are in government, to scrap the rotten Job-ready Graduates Package's massive fee hikes, which have piled so much debt onto students, but no. They did none of that. They did none of what is needed—what staff and students want and what universities need. Here they are, charging ahead with international student caps which no-one wants and which will be a disaster.

Let's be clear: what we have here is purely and simply migration policy disguised as an education policy. This is a politically self-interested move to win a race to the bottom with Mr Dutton's coalition on migration, and the Albanese government is willing to throw the whole tertiary education sector under the bus to win this racist race. Shame on you! International students have long been used as cash cows to prop up the sector, and now they are being used as scapegoats for the government's own policy failures. This is absolutely disgraceful.

It seems, though, that Labor's reckless and chaotic international student caps are finally dead in the water, as they should be. From day one, the Greens have been vocal in our opposition to these student caps, for all the reasons that I just articulated. Literally everyone except Labor was opposed to international student caps as well, because we know they will decimate the sector, harm international students, harm our reputation and result in massive job and economic losses.

Do you know why we know that these caps are a migration policy and not an education policy? Because it was confirmed when Minister Clare wrote to universities in September trying to strongarm them into submission and into agreeing with the caps to support the government's migration targets. The education minister is holding ministerial direction 107 over the heads of education providers, as if his government isn't responsible for that reckless ministerial direction in the first place. That ministerial direction is cruel, misleading and highly damaging to the sector. Now that Labor have egg on their faces, when this bill will not be supported in this chamber, the next thing they should do is also scrap the damaging ministerial direction 107 immediately so the higher education sector has some path forward to be able to survive.

In damning evidence, Luke Sheehy of Universities Australia described the international student caps in this bill as a 'political smokescreen' that is being used by the government 'to gain an upper hand in a battle over migration ahead of the next election', while Group of Eight CEO Vicki Thomson reported:

Migration is shaping up as a key battlefront in the lead-up to the federal election, and the university sector is shaping up to be the fall guy, unfairly and unjustifiably so.

The government is trying to crush the higher education sector in a bid to look tough on borders in the months before the federal election. International education and international students in the higher education sector are becoming collateral damage as a result of this terrible policy. The calls for the government to engage in proper consultation with the sector have been loud and unanimous but have gone unanswered by this government. They did make a complete mockery of the inquiry process, often releasing key information the day after hearings had taken place and failing to produce any modelling on the impacts of these caps. Throughout the inquiry that involved four days of public hearings and almost 200 submissions, no-one from the government was able to point to any evidence that these caps are necessary to ensure quality and integrity in the international education sector. In fact, the government claimed these caps are about housing, about skills shortages, about integrity and quality, but none of these policy aims are reflected or achieved in the formulas that have been developed to create these caps. The absence of these purported policy outcomes shows how irrational and flawed this whole messy dog's breakfast is. The entire process has been rushed, opaque, chaotic and confusing.

In relation to the allocation of caps across the sector, with the exception of TAFE institutes, for every other provider—public universities, private universities, non-university higher education providers and private VET providers—there is no consistency in how caps have been allocated, even within those individual groups of providers. Many errors were identified in the allocation of caps and it is near impossible to see how these errors can be rectified in any way, shape or form prior to the government's proposed date of 1 January next year.

Following decades of underfunding by successive Labor and Liberal governments, universities have become disproportionately reliant on international student revenue and now the government is proposing to suddenly turn off that tap, with no-one having any idea of what student numbers could look like beyond 2025, and nothing on the table from the government to provide more funding to universities. Funds from exorbitant international student fees are used in universities to cross subsidise research and to support domestic students. This is a problem in and of itself. But cutting off this funding will also become a huge problem immediately as the revenues drop. We have already seen in just the last some weeks that universities have been announcing more than a thousand job cuts, with many citing international student caps as a contributing factor. Incredibly, other estimates put job losses in the tens of thousands, and the sole response from the government is that 'from a macroeconomic perspective, Treasury does not expect any job losses as a result of this bill'. Even more incredibly, no modelling has been provided for these claims, and no-one can assume that no detailed modelling was undertaken to determine specific impacts on the sector or on the economy.

Many universities are facing dire circumstances with the government already decimating international education for many providers through ministerial direction 107. I keep coming back to this because this is a horrific ministerial direction that needs to be scrapped right now. A number of smaller private providers gave evidence that the imposition of the caps would be catastrophic for the entire industry. Dr Ant Bagshaw, executive director of the Australian Technology Network of Universities, reported that the six universities he represents have lost over half a billion dollars in 2024 as a result of ministerial direction 107. Mr Paul Harris, executive director of Innovative Research University, similarly reported the disproportionate and unfair impact of the direction on the universities that he represents.

Furthermore, this bill is an attack on the fundamental principles of university independence and student choice. On the one hand, although not reflected at all in the methodology for 2025, the government has indicated that these caps will be used to steer international students towards areas of skills shortages in Australia. But then, on the other hand, universities' whose international student numbers will be capped quite drastically teach the courses which actually address the skills shortages. It undermines the government's own argument. For example, despite educating a significant number of international students that go on to work in Western Sydney's overburdened hospitals, Western Sydney University is facing a cut of up to 18 per cent in their student numbers for next year. Similarly, the Australian Catholic University is the largest educator of teachers and nurses in the country, and they are facing a 53 per cent reduction in international students from 2024 to 2025. This whole thing makes zero sense.

Canada implemented a cap on international students, and we know the results have been pretty disastrous and damning, with international student numbers falling far below the caps that have been set as students seek more welcoming options for study. Across the four days of hearings, witnesses explicitly, again and again, raised concerns about the serious damage this bill will do to Australia's reputation as a destination for international students. This damage has already started. Alec Webb, CEO of Regional Universities Network, described the government's changes as an act of economic and reputational self-sabotage. With high levels of visa delays and refusals, $1,600 visa application fees and caps that mean, even with an offer, you may not be guaranteed a place, it is clear that many students will no longer even consider studying in Australia.

Shamefully, capping international student numbers under the government's plan is fundamentally flawed in that it relies on a false narrative that international students are the cause of Australia's current housing crisis. Of serious concern and often lost in the debate is the impact of these caps on the students themselves. International students have long been exploited as cash cows to prop up university budgets in the absence of government funding, and now they are being scapegoated by the policy failures of both the coalition and the Labor governments. The harm this causes to international students and migrants cannot be overstated. In addition to the harm caused to the international students themselves, this rhetoric fails to account for the vibrancy, culture and diversity that international students bring to our campuses and communities.

Universities and private providers alike have been clear that the government's irrational international student caps will destroy tertiary education. It is clear that this bill by the Labor government puts politics before policy, despite all the evidence provided of the flaws, gaping holes and inconsistencies, the lack of consultation and the damage this policy will do. The government is pushing ahead with strangling the higher education sector in this disgraceful attempt to achieve migration outcomes, which has absolutely zero to do with international education.

On the final day of hearing, higher education expert Claire Field told the committee that it would be wrong to go ahead, and I couldn't agree more. Now Labor, hopefully, cannot go ahead. We pushed hard, and this flawed policy will, hopefully, never see the light of day. And I hope that there is a lesson here for Labor that they will learn. They must go back to the drawing board and come back with a plan to fully fund universities for research, for learning and for teaching. They must tackle insecure work and rampant casualisation at universities. They must tackle the corporatisation of universities, wipe student debt and make uni and TAFE free. These are the priorities—not some ridiculous international student caps, which, hopefully, are now dead in the water, as they should be.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024. I want to take up the first issue. Senator Henderson raised a complaint about ELICOS students and how their numbers are blowing out in net overseas migration. But the reality is that ELICOS students do not contribute to net overseas migration, and there is a good reason for that. They are only in the country for three months. It's another example of how confused the coalition are on this. They don't have a plan on how to deal with the issues that this inquiry and this bill deal with. All they can come up with are misinformation and absolutely basic untruths.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's not true. You're just running lines.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Quite clearly, we've got the Greens on one side, and they want an open-ended situation, which actually disadvantages Australian students and many international students that come here. They want to have an open-ended approach. So you've got the Greens on one side, and then you've got the coalition on the other side with various different positions. We heard about many more positions again tonight, and I'll get to that in one moment.

I'll also address the fact that the Albanese government and Minister Clare have put forward and said very clearly what our second-term agenda is for student debt. We've been very clear about that to the Australian public.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sheldon, resume your seat. Senator Henderson, according to standing order 197, interruptions are disorderly. Please desist.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said, the Greens have turned around and they want this open-ended approach, rather than making sure that we have a proper system, which this bill clearly starts bringing in. You've got the hard, mad Left on one side, and you've got the Right on the other side. Quite clearly, we've come up with the—I'll use the words—militant middle, which says that this is the right approach to take to get our education system on the right track.

This bill amends the ESOS Act to safeguard the quality and integrity of our international education sector and to provide the Minister for Education with the power to set limits on the number of international students that can come to Australia each year. The bill is the result of two years of consultation as part of the Universities Accord, which is a blueprint on how we can reform our higher education system to make a better and fairer system. We heard from prominent experts such as Professor Mary O'Kane, Jenny Macklin, Barney Glover, Fiona Nash and many, many more people who presented to that committee. The Universities Accord recommended:

That to address issues with the integrity and quality of teaching and facilities in international tertiary education and ensure that international education providers maintain their social licence to operate, the Australian Government—

should be—

taking an evidence-based approach to issues including:

i. managing demand volatility

ii. course concentrations and the quality of the student experience

iii. access and availability of affordable student housing.

So you've got the Greens on one side saying, 'Let it loose,' and you've got the conservatives on the other side giving many different positions. But the only thing they are doing is politically making a point of trying to turn around and say, 'Whatever's brought up by Labor is wrong.' They're in a coalition, the 'no' coalition, when it comes to actually reforming this important sector of education.

The government has committed to implementing 29 of the 47 recommendations of the accord in full. An obvious first step is that the ESOS agencies who regulate the education sector need the power to drive out the shonky providers who lure international students here with false promises. This is a critical part of the bill, but those opposite want to shy away from it because they want to turn around and say, 'We're not backing the shonks,' whilst they back them. They are in this place backing some of the shonkiest operators, and I'll go to some of the reasons why in a moment.

This bill also requires education agent commissions to be transparent and requires new providers to demonstrate a track record of delivering quality education to domestic students before they can recruit international students. Those opposite don't want to tell you that either. That's what they're voting against—transparency of the rip-off merchants, the agent commissions and the shonky operators out there. They want to turn around and give them a free pass. That's what they're doing. That's what this bill is intended to rectify and will rectify.

The inquiry into the bill heard there was widespread support for these integrity measures, but there was not a word from those opposite. They're not making sure that we are doing the right thing. They don't back in these sorts of proposals. In actual fact, if they had a different view, they should've put it in their own minority reports. They should've put those views and put suggestions about what they thought should be happening in those reports, but, no, what they've done is simply make a shonky arrangement, allowing shonks to survive in this sector. Professor Attila Brungs, Vice-Chancellor and President of UNSW Sydney, said:

We support the government's intention in parts 1 to 6 of the legislation, which are around integrity measures to weed out unscrupulous providers who exploit students, which is excellent.

Paul Harris, from Innovative Research Universities, told the committee that they support the 'ongoing work with the government to improve quality and integrity across the national education system'.

The integrity measures outlined in the bill are important to safeguard this critically important industry, but it's an industry that has lost community trust. The government has been taking this problem seriously, and the integrity measures in this bill are on top of a number of integrity measures that we've put in place since coming into office. We have introduced financial capacity requirements, implemented a genuine student requirement, increased the English-language requirements and issued ministerial direction 107, which is a directive to public servants at the Department of Home Affairs to process student visa caseloads based on the risk level of education providers and the student's country of citizenship.

Despite widespread support, the majority of this bill has been caught up in the hypocritical politicking of the Liberals and Nationals. The bill was referred to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee in May this year. The inquiry was extended in August, and then extended again in September. They called for four committee hearings on this bill, delaying this debate and going over the same issues time and time again because they didn't want to be held to account for the measures that they're voting against.

The Liberals and Nationals tried to delay this bill—

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, we didn't!

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

not because they don't support a better planned approach to the national education sector, but because they see more political benefit in picking a fight than helping us to solve a problem they left behind!

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sheldon, resume your seat. Senator Henderson, interjections are disorderly. Senator Sheldon, I remind you to be careful about imputations of improper motives. You have the call.

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Because there was more political benefit in picking a fight than helping us to solve the mess they left behind, they are talking out of both sides of their mouth—double-dealing the universities and registered training organisations. They criticise the government for this bill, but they've committed to go much further. Back in May, opposition leader, Mr Dutton, said in his budget-in-reply speech that, if elected, he will reduce annual permanent migration from 185,000 to 140,000. He called the current number of international students 'excessive'.

Senator Henderson said in an interview on talkback radio station 2CC on 2 September:

… what we are concerned about is the social license of our universities to bring in such large numbers of foreign students without having regard for the impact on the learning of all students.

But then at the committee inquiry on 2 October, Senator Henderson described education providers as being 'grossly discriminated against'. So here you are; you can have both things happening at the same time. Push and pull. And her leader, Mr Dutton, told radio station 2GB on 26 September that international students are 'the modern version of boat arrivals'. That kind of inflamed rhetoric and dog whistling has a real impact on people.

International student Raghav Motani spoke to the Guardian about Mr Dutton's comments in an article published on 27 September. He said:

Why are you using these words to describe us? What have we done that's unlawful? … We've not come illegally, we've not jumped borders, why are we framed like this? We're helping the economy, we're putting a lot of money into it. Protect us.

Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight universities, also criticised the coalition policies in the Australian Financial Review on 17 May. She said:

At best, the message is 'you are not welcome here', at worst, it is trading off our great history of multiculturalism to play into a political narrative,

We on this side make no apologies for wanting to return migration to pre-pandemic levels. This bill sets up a power to create a cap on the number of international students coming to Australia to study, and the national planning level announced by Minister Clare would mean that 270,000 international students can start a course in 2025. We want regional universities to benefit from hosting international students rather than them being concentrated just in metropolitan universities. We're not engaging in the kind of rhetoric the coalition is spewing because we value our domestic and international students. We want them to have a positive experience in Australia. We want international students to have a genuine cultural exchange, to be paid at least minimum wage if they are working and to not be forced into exploitative accommodation.

But we know this is not always the case. Operation Inglenook, conducted by Border Force and the Australian Federal Police, exposed that genuine education providers were colluding with disreputable agents to facilitate student visas and then funnelling them into criminal activities, including sexual slavery.

Debate interrupted.