Today, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced that he will be slashing the number of international students by 80,000 and tripling the cost of student visa applications to $5,000 at Group of Eight universities, in a bid to "ease the housing crisis."
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and Spokesperson for Higher Education, has slammed the announcement as a blatantly racist and dangerous attack on international students - a cynical attempt to scapegoat migrants and international students for a housing crisis they didn't cause.
As stated by Senator Faruqi:
"You know an election is coming when, like clockwork, the racist dogwhistling, scapegoating and blaming international students and migrants for the housing and rental crisis starts.
"Dutton and his Trump-mirroring Liberals have no solutions to offer on housing or higher education, so as usual they take the divisive, racist route.
"Dutton's plan to slash student numbers and triple visa fees is a cynical ploy to stoke fear and division in the lead-up to an election. It's a smokescreen to cover up the Coalition's own failures and inaction.
"Labor must take responsibility for starting this round of punching down on international students with the caps they pushed for last year. We knew this was going to turn ugly and harm so many people of colour living in this country.
"The facts are clear, we've seen the evidence: international students are not the cause of skyrocketing rents or unaffordable housing. That responsibility lies squarely with successive governments who have refused to build enough public housing and prioritised lining the pockets of wealthy property investors.
"We need real solutions to the housing crisis - not racist blame games. It's time to kick this racism out of our politics once and for all.
"The Greens are the only party offering transformational solutions to match the scale of the problem. If you want change, you have to vote for it."
