The reporting by the Senate Committee inquiry into in the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 has now been pushed back for a third time, to 8 October 2024.
Last week, Senator Sarah Henderson put forward a motion to the Senate to hold another public hearing on 2 October into the ESOS Bill, with officials from the Department of Education, Department of Home Affairs and Department of Treasury to appear. Henderson’s motion also called for additional submissions to be received until 26 September, and postponement of the Senate Committee’s reporting date to 8 October. The motion was ultimately withdrawn by the Senator, as the Senate Committee agreed to the Senator’s proposal in advance of the vote in the Senate.
As reported by The Koala last night, the Senate Committee website has now been updated, confirming additional submissions allowed until 26 September, a public hearing in Canberra on 2 October, and a new reporting date of 8 October. This delay, to 8 October, means that the Committee’s report has been pushed back three times, as it was initially due to report on 15 August, then 6 September and 16 September.
With this latest development, one of the key questions in the minds of the sector must be whether the Government will press ahead with a vote on the Bill in 2024 and an implementation date of 1 January 2025.
Parliamentary sitting dates for both Houses for the remainder of 2024 are 8-10 October and 18-28 November. If we assume that the Government will take some time to respond to the Senate Committee’s report on 8 October, then The Koala imagines that the earliest the Bill would be voted on is 18 November.
This may appear to be too late for a 1 January 2025 implementation date, but the Government could argue that the sector has had notice about the Bill since May and indicative enrolment limits since end August/early September. In addition, the Bill allows for 2025 caps to be set via a legislative instrument by 31 December 2024, whereas future years must be set by 1 September.
Despite this, there is increasing opposition to the Government’s plan to impose enrolment limits on new international students in 2025, not only from non-government members of the Senate Committee, but also from State Governments and business groups. Although there appears to be quite widespread support for the concept of ‘managed growth’, criticism has been levelled at the Government’s lack of consultation, poor and rushed planning, and reliance on a flawed methodology for the imposition of enrolment limits.
Senator Pocock said in the Senate last Wednesday, “we need to delay the start date, put a safety net and a buffer around the caps, provide a process to challenge individual caps and sunset the extraordinary powers that this bill gives the minister. I urge the government and the coalition to work in good faith with the sector to get a good outcome for such an important part of our economy and the staff and students at its heart”.
