The Coalition has announced it will block the international student cap planned by the Government. The cap would limit the number of international student arrivals each year to 270,000.
The Federal Government had planned to introduce the cap by January.
Then, it was expected to scrap a ministerial power that allows it to prioritise student visas based on where an applicant intends to study.
However, Education Minister Jason Clare said the ministerial power will remain in place if the student caps don’t pass.
Student caps
Earlier this year, the Government announced it would introduce limits on the number of international students it would allow into Australia. The cap was part of a broader overhaul of the migration system.
In the year to August, more than 800,000 foreign students were studying in Australia.
Education Minister Jason Clare told TDA student caps were designed to bring in “sustainable” levels of migration and to root out “crooks that feed off a multi-billion dollar industry”.
Legislation
The Government introduced a bill to Parliament in May to cap international student arrivals.
The bill would give the Education Minister the power to set limits on arrivals, which Jason Clare announced would be 270,000 in 2025.
Clare said providers could enrol more students if they build more student housing.
The Government needed the Coalition, or the Greens and at least three crossbenchers, to pass the bill through Senate.
The Greens have consistently opposed the bill, describing it as a “wrecking-ball”.
Higher education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi said: “This was always a migration bill disguised as education policy.”
The Government had expected the Coalition to support the measure, until this week.
Coalition Senators had backed a committee review of the bill, while raising some concerns about how student caps would be allocated across universities and TAFE.
Direction 107
In December 2023, the Government signed ‘Ministerial Direction 107’, giving itself the power to prioritise student visas based on the quality of the institution a student was planning to attend.
Processing times are shorter for established education institutions like major universities.
Peak body Universities Australia has called for the direction to be scrapped, saying it’s led to $4 billion in economic losses and 60,000 fewer students.
On Monday, senior Coalition members issued a joint statement confirming the party would not support the bill, which they called “chaotic and confused”.
The Coalition said the student caps would “not even touch the sides [of the] migration and housing crisis”.
Coalition leader Peter Dutton said the bill was a “dog’s breakfast”.
He said the Coalition’s election promise is to cut the overall migration intake by 25% a year.
Government remarks
Clare said Dutton’s failure to support the bill would “destroy his credibility.”
“You can’t talk tough on immigration and then vote against putting a limit on the number of people that come to this country every year.”
Clare confirmed ministerial direction 107 would stay as a result of the bill’s failure.
Reaction
Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy told reporters “the war on the international education sector in this country will continue.”
“We think the phony war and blaming international students on the housing issue and migration is just plain wrong.”
Sheehy repeated his calls for the Government to scrap ministerial direction 107.
“This is not only a sledgehammer to our sector, but it is economically reckless.”
