international education
Rising tide lifts Australia, too
The backlash against working holiday and tourist visas is short-sighted. By Phil Honeywood
Recent negative media attention concerning working holiday visas overlooks the crucial role different visa categories play in our international education sector. Before critics get too carried away with their rhetoric, it would behove them to better understand how Australia genuinely benefits from the current regime.
WORKING HOLIDAY VISAS Commentators such as ACTU president Ged Kearney and Monash University professor Bob Birrell recently went public with their concerns about too many working holiday visas( WHVs) being issued to young foreigners. Their principal argument was the alleged negative impact on young Australians seeking entry-level employment. The allegation was that with about 200,000 WHVs on issue, many were being taken up by unemployed youth from countries where their own job prospects were poor. The motivation of these young foreigners was therefore alleged to be more about making money than experiencing Australian culture and travel. A few key points are often overlooked in this debate:
• Any 18- to 30-year-old foreigner who arrives in Australia under this visa category is restricted to a 52-week visit only. They are entitled to undertake study for up to 17 of those weeks. English Australia states that about 20 per cent of the 100,000 or more students studying English language in Australia at any one time are doing so under WHVs. Given that the average tuition fee for an English language course is $ 250 a week, many of these young visitors are keeping the doors of our beleaguered English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students( ELICOS) colleges open at the moment.
• According to a recent Australian Tourism Export Council( ATEC) media release, WHVs create jobs, make an enormous economic contribution and“ are the lifeblood of many regional towns around the country”. An ATEC position paper titled The Importance of the Working Holiday Visa argues that for every 100 WHV visitors, 6.3 full-time equivalent jobs are created – 11,000 additional jobs in total. With each of these visa holders spending an average of $ 13,000 while here, they also inject substantial funds into our economy. The argument here is that WHVs attract backpackers and their paid work here allows them to fund their stay, travel locally and contribute to regional economies.
• There is a flip side to our trade unions’ resistance to issuing WHVs. Their argument conveniently overlooks the fact that foreign students and travellers are often willing to undertake the dirty jobs that young Australians reject. Our commercial cleaning, car parking attendant, fruit picking and hospitality industries are all now heavily reliant on itinerant workers. The unions’ position that these jobs would be taken up by domestic entry-level workers if the award pay rates were higher is, at best, only partially correct.
• Since the working holiday visa concept was introduced, many thousands of young Australians have taken advantage of the ability to travel and work for 12 months in other countries. They have been provided with these equivalent visas from other nations in both bad and good economic times back here in Australia. For our country now to suggest that it does not suit us, at this particular moment in time, to issue WHVs would be perceived as somewhat duplicitous. If we then chose to issue WHVs only to certain countries, this would also raise the spectre of Australia as a potentially racist nation.
TOURIST VISAS This category is also often misunderstood. A tourist visa to Australia generally allows only a maximum six-month stay. Unlike WHVs, tourist visas do not permit any work rights. However, this category provides enormous benefits to Australia’ s $ 14 billiona-year international education industry. Some of these include:
• During the six-month stay, the visa holder is allowed to undertake study for up to 13 weeks. Again, English Australia
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