In his Budget reply speech, Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton proposed a cap on migration to limit international student numbers. Universities, student organisations and housing experts have criticised this, arguing it risks making Australia an uncompetitive education market.
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton argued in his budget reply speech that migration should be capped at 140,000—much lower than the government’s current target of 260,000 by 2026.
The Coalition, similar to in 2013, sees migration as a hot-buttonissue where it can attack Labor’s record. Despite introducing increasingly stringent visa conditions and cracking down on ghost colleges, only 16% of Australians polled this week think Labor is managing the border well.
In an effort to placate popular views on migration, the Federal Budget introduced a proposed cap on international students for each university unless they built more purpose-built student accommodation.
Universities have opposed the cap and the Opposition’s proposal, arguing it makes Australia uncompetitive but have acknowledged they will have to start reducing their intake in response to recent reforms.
A University of Sydney spokesperson told Honi that “We appreciate the government is seeking to achieve reasonable moderate growth and that unlimited growth is unsustainable.”
Still, the spokesperson said, the government had to be “very careful not to damage our international education sector.”
The NTEU has also expressed concerns about a reduction in international students.
In response to the budget, National President Dr Alison Barnes said, “we need the government to be upfront about what its plan to slow the growth of international student numbers means for university funding.”
“Already-stretched university staff simply can’t afford more funding cuts after a disastrous decade under the coalition,” she said.
Student organisations have warned the government that its increasingly populist rhetoric surrounding international students is causing distress.
“The uncertainty in policies has made students keenly feel the shift towards an unwelcoming environment,” SUPRA President Weihong Liang told Honi.
“Many discussions about international students are filled with a sense of ‘unwelcomeness’ or implicit blame, suggesting that there are too many international students and they are disrupting Australia.”
The NUS and SRC have all called on more funding to construct affordable student accommodation and have blamed Universities for selling off accommodation and offering rooms at market rates.
The University outsourced the management of student accommodation to UniLodge last year and has sold off millions of dollars’ worth of property in recent years.
The University of Sydney spokesperson said it had invested $220 million into “building affordable student accommodation since 2015.” 2000-3000 were expected to be delivered in the next five years. This figure is well below the increased number of students expected in the same period.
The University has also called on the NSW government to designate student accommodation as affordable housing which would allow development applications to be fast tracked and would also allow exceptions for density requirements.
Internal estimates predict this would allow a 20% increase in beds for students at the University of Sydney alone.
University of Melbourne professor and population expert Peter McDonald argues both the government and opposition’s policies risk reducing the number of skilled migrants who enter Australia who support key industries.
Dutton has promised his policy would free up 100,000 homes for ‘Australians’ his inability to answer basic questions such as whether his policies apply to net migration or permanent migration have cast doubt on his credibility.
A reduction of migration to 140,000 McDonald said would cause “15,000 to 20,000 fewer nurses, teachers, IT workers and engineers.”
