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being lost to young Australians because of international students’ work rights.
On the one hand, it was refreshing to see that an unlikely alliance of Greens, Labor and Liberal senators all rose to their feet and lambasted their One Nation colleagues for their lack of evidence and racist overtones.
On the other hand, it could not be ignored that Hanson and her Senate team were playing to perceptions in certain elements of the community that overseas students are‘ taking the jobs of our children’.
Such rhetoric all too often overlooks the fact that many Australian-born students refuse to undertake jobs such as commercial cleaning, taxi driving and working in 24-hour service stations – jobs that overseas students rely on( and willingly sign up for) to help fund their studies.
Outside the hothouse of parliamentary debate, there has been a quieter but potentially higher impact government initiative underway. Earlier this year, in response to concerns regarding employer exploitation of overseas students, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash announced a Migrant Worker Taskforce. Chaired by Professor Allan Fels, this group has been examining whether the current 20 hours per week part-time work entitlement for international students should be radically changed. While no one can deny that the exploitative behaviour of employers has to be curtailed, the ability of overseas students to work in our economy remains a key drawcard, particularly for students from relatively new markets such as Latin America. Quite apart from the need to supplement their living expenses, students studying abroad are increasingly attracted to countries that can provide them with meaningful course-related employability opportunities. It is difficult enough already for Australia to compete with study destination nations such as Canada that have strong internship initiatives readily available to their international student cohort.
INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRAINTS At federal, state and local levels, politicians from all sides are beginning to raise concerns around big city infrastructure constraints. Whether it be overcrowded trains and buses, arterial roads clogged with traffic, or increasingly expensive residential property, some commentators are pointing to growing numbers of overseas students as part of the cause. Yet such critics too often choose to overlook the fact that 130,000 Australians are now employed in the international education sector; that our tourism, entertainment and construction industries are key beneficiaries of fee‐paying overseas students; and that our cities are becoming globalised innovative hubs as a direct result of the world’ s brightest young minds choosing to study here.
Many would argue that our politicians would do far better to focus on effective policies to enhance our urban infrastructure and positively encourage decentralisation initiatives rather than resorting to a blame game and knee jerk reactions that‘ Sydney is full’ or‘ Melbourne’ s population growth is unsustainable’.
THE MIGRATION BARRIER As the recent citizenship fracas among our federal parliamentarians has shown, Australia is a nation built on migrants. More often than not our migration programs have focused on providing citizenship opportunities to highly skilled workers desperately needed for both old and new industries.
A large accounting firm recently informed the author that it has 120 data analyst positions which it is finding all but impossible to fill with Australian-born graduates. The firm sees international students as able to meet some of their skill shortage requirements.
Unfortunately, recent policy responses from our major political parties are only serving to discourage migration pathways for the world’ s best and brightest. Whether it be the Turnbull government’ s recent radical dismantling of the 457 skilled worker visas, Bill Shorten’ s favouring of‘ union jobs’ over‘ guest workers’, or the Greens party argument that Australia’ s population is already environmentally unsustainable, such pronouncements serve only to discourage international students from choosing to study here.
Any one of the above issues, if not handled well, could negatively impact upon Australia’ s ability to reach its projection of one million tuition-fee-paying international students by 2025.
Throw into this mix increasing concerns around alleged overseas political interference on our campuses, and our sector’ s‘ golden age’ could well come unstuck. It is no coincidence, therefore, that one of the key priorities of the federal government’ s National Council for International Education is to find ways to better engage with the community about the benefits that international students bring to Australia both economically and socially. To this end, the International Education Association of Australia( IEAA) is undertaking a comprehensive research project to better ascertain the community’ s understanding of our sector, counter misconceptions and partner with industries who employ international students to encourage them to be more vocal champions. We can only hope that projects such as this will counter the type of pushback that is occurring in other study destination countries. ■
Phil Honeywood is chief executive of the IEAA.
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