Senate Inquiry Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 [Provisions]
Attributable to Universities Australia Chief Executive Officer Luke Sheehy:
Thank you, Chair.
My name is Luke Sheehy, I am the Chief Executive Officer of Universities Australia - the peak body for Australia's 39 comprehensive universities.
Can I start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the various lands we are all gathered on today and pay my respects to elders past and present.
Thank you to the Committee for the opportunity to be here today.
We don't have much time, so I will get straight to the point.
The Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024, for the most part, is rushed policy.
Universities Australia supports the Government's intention to maintain the integrity and sustainability of the international education sector.
But we believe the Bill, as drafted, is more a political smokescreen than an instrument for good policy as the Government seeks to gain an upper hand in a battle over migration ahead of the next election.
Our main issue lies with the amendments that seek to control the number of international students our universities can enrol and what courses they can enrol in.
This is ministerial overreach to an extent we have never seen before.
Both the major parties are linking the post-pandemic return of international students, who they encouraged back, to Australia's housing shortage.
The facts and data do not support this argument.
Housing data shows rental vacancy rates in suburbs around inner-city university campuses are higher than the averages of major cities.
Further, the Student Accommodation Council has found that international students only make up four per cent of the total private rental market.
Using students as cannon fodder in a poll-driven battle over migration and housing simply doesn't add up.
The danger of using these talented people as scapegoats to blame the housing crisis on is what we stand to lose by telling them to stay home.
International students accounted for more than half of Australia's GDP growth last year - almost singlehandedly saving the nation from recession.
The sector is our second biggest export behind mining - worth almost $50 billion to our economy and supporting around 250,000 jobs.
No other major export industry is treated the way international education is right now.
Not mining, not agriculture, not tourism - none of them.
Chair, it's worth noting that even without legislated powers to cap international student numbers, the Government has already taken a sledgehammer to the international education sector.
Department of Home Affairs data shows visa grants in higher education are down 23 per cent in the past year - the equivalent of 59,410 university students.
This can be put down, in large part, to Ministerial Direction No.107 which came into effect in December, slowing visa processing to a trickle and leading to a spike in visa cancellations for many universities.
Ministerial Direction No.107 has undermined our efforts as a sector to diversify our international student base and is creating significant financial anxiety and pain for universities, particularly those in regional Australia and outer suburban areas.
The impact of having some 60,000 fewer international students arrive on our shores is significant.
It would represent a $4.3 billion hit to the economy and could cost the university sector alone over 14,000 jobs - not to mention the flow-on effect for small businesses which rely heavily on international students.
Chair, we must ask ourselves whether this critically important industry is worth less than the votes the Government is chasing at the polling booth on election day.
It is both my professional and personal belief that our world-class international education sector deserves better than this and I urge the Committee to help reinforce this point to the Government in its final report.
Our nation needs vibrant, financially viable universities to continue delivering a world-class education for domestic and international students.
We need certainty, stability and growth in our international education sector to help enable this.
I am happy to discuss all or any of the recommendations we have put to the Committee.
Thank you.
