Uncertainty after Australia foreign students invoice hits opposition
Uncertainty after Australia foreign students invoice hits opposition
Australia’s debate over capping foreign learner numbers is “not over” despite a controversial invoice unexpectedly losing back, a top industry body says.
The invoice, part of efforts to slash overall migration to Australia, had been opposed by most universities who declare it would damage the higher education sector and its global reputation.
The government argued the legislation was needed to make the industry more sustainable and ease pressure on housing, and it was expected to easily pass with opposition back this week.
However in a shock eleventh-hour shift, Australia’s opposition chief said his coalition would vote against the invoice as it didn’t leave far enough.
Though some universities have expressed back at the invoice’s apparent demise, they also declare it extends the uncertainty surrounding the industry – which is worth about A$50bn (£25.7bn, $32.7bn) to the economy.
Luke Sheehy, head of Universities Australia, told the BBC the information brought “no sense of relief” for him.
“I just knew that we would be looking at international students [used] as cannon fodder in a phoney war on migration correct through to the election now,” said Mr Sheehy, whose organisation advocates for 39 universities.
The cap proposed limiting recent enrolments at 270,000 for 2025 – a significant cut on the number in 2024. It had been due to arrive into result in just six weeks.
Some universities have made job cuts and rejected learner applications in expectation of the recent laws, and the BBC was told foreign students were already choosing to study elsewhere as a outcome of the reduced confidence in the sector.
The legislation, currently before the Senate, has not been formally withdrawn by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government but it cannot pass without the back of the main opposition Liberal-National coalition or the Greens, who also resist it.
chief of the Opposition Peter Dutton called the invoice “a dog’s breakfast” and vowed to introduce “deeper cuts” if he wins the upcoming election, due by May.
The Greens, on the other hand, described the invoice “dog whistling that shamefully scapegoated international students for the housing crisis they did not factor”.
The government has accused Mr Dutton of hypocrisy, arguing he has often talked “tough” on cutting immigration to the country, which has reached record levels in recent years.
The expected setback of the invoice would cruel an existing visa policy, which has been widely accused of exacerbating problems by funnelling most international students to a select few city-based universities, will remain in place.
The throng of Eight (Go8) – a body which represents Australia’s top ranked universities – said the invoice would have hurt students and staff and that ordinary sense had prevailed.
But the industry has been left scrambling again, with only a few months left until the 2025 academic year begins. Observers declare some universities could now receive a spike in students when they had a expected a cut, and others – predominantly in regional locations – will no longer expect as many, putting them at greater budgetary pressure.
“The most devastating part of this talk is that we still don’t have a resolution,” Mr Sheehy said.
“We’re nowhere closer to providing the certainty, stability and growth the government promised us all those many months ago when they proposed caps.”
Post Comment