The Koala was prepared for a long day listening to our politicians debate the merit of the bill, which it has been following [very closely] for some time. Today was it, the day it was all meant to happen. It came, and it went, and here is a wrap of proceedings.
After the opening of the Senate, Senator Wong proposed an at-times volatile censure motion on behalf of the Government. It was agreed upon by the Opposition, censuring Senators Lidia Thorpe and Ralph Babet for their behaviour. The motions passed and the Senators were censured, which had the run of the news cycle for some time. Following discussion and voting, the Senate moved into its business for the day.
Up next was item 5 on the Order of Business (Attendance by Minister – Explanation). This was a discussion around the NDIS Sustainability Framework. The Koala won’t detail this.
Onto the main game, item 6 (Government business orders of the day).
First up was the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024. In short, it is about what the Government has been spruking in the press the last few weeks, of reversing student HECS debts. While supporting the Bill, the Opposition didn’t miss the opportunity to point out every statistic that made Labor look bad. “Smoke and mirrors” was the key phrase used by Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson. The Koala tends to agree.
Several other Senators spoke to the Bill, including Independent Senator David Pocock, who pointed out that Australia pulls in more money from HECS than the petroleum resources rent tax. He said it speaks to our priorities and was a “disgrace”.
1.30pm hits, interrupting the debate on this Bill and ESOS is pushed until later in the day.
Coalition announce they won’t support the bill
A joint statement was issued by Liberal Party members Henderson, Paterson and Tehan stating they would oppose the ESOS Bill. It was certainly a hard about-turn, which many didn’t see coming.
The statement says:
The Coalition will oppose the Albanese Labor Government’s chaotic and confused education bill which will fail to fix the migration and housing crisis of the Government’s own making.
The full statement can be seen here.
Greens announce “Labor’s disastrous student caps dead in the water.”
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and spokesperson for Higher Education, has responded to the impending defeat of the Labor Government’s disastrous bill to cap international students.
“We pushed back hard, and now with the Coalition opposing it as well, this flawed policy will hopefully never see the light of day.” she says (with a list of quotes).
Link to the full statement here.
Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024—second reading debate
7.19 pm is when the Bill commenced debate. Opening the debate was Senator Henderson (LIB). She pointed out that Labor has botched immigration, and there are more international students than ever, and they are on track to surpass 1 million.
The senator was at pains to point out that when Labor came in, there were just over 400k international students, and there are now over 800k. She links international students to housing.
She raised concerns over the caps – 270k. She said labour does not talk about the exempt categories, which will bring up the total number to above 400k.
“This is an absolute mess,” she says. “We know this is not going to do anything” she further states. In conclusion, she says, “What we do know from this bill is that it is smoke and mirrors.”
7.34 pm Senator Faruqi speaks (Greens). She is consistent with her remarks in the Senate Education and Employment Committee hearings. Rather than taking the coalition’s line of “not going hard enough”, the senator speaks to what the evidence through the committees heard. “It will cost jobs,” she said.
She spoke about what the government could have done, like scrapping the job-ready scheme and funding universities appropriately. Still, she again points out that this is a migration policy dressed up as an education policy. She said it would “throw the tertiary education sector under the bus.”
She called on the government to scrap Ministerial Direction 107 and moved onto impact and quoted a number of the witnesses who went before the committee hearings.
The Senator spoke of reputational damage and again quoted a number of witnesses to the committee’s hearing.
7.49 pm Senator Sheldon (ALP) speaks and comes out of the gate and attacks Henderson about why English students are counted. “They are only here for 3 months”, he said.
He attempts to bring it back to quality and integrity. He states this Bill has resulted from 2 years of consultation as part of the Universities Accord process. He lets his argument down by insinuating those not in agreement with the Bill want to give the shonks “a free pass”. Clearly, this is not the case.
8pm hits, and the Acting Deputy President calls time.
As the debate commenced after 6.30pm, a division (or vote) can’t happen tonight. Will it appear tomorrow? Or will it be withdrawn from the order of business? We await this.
If there’s one thing the Koala walks away after sitting through the day’s proceedings and the last session is a sense that there appears to be more interest in tagging the opponents than doing what’s right and in the case of this last session, for the sector and for students.
What’s next?
So, it would appear that the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 is dead in the water or, at the very least, wounded in a significant way, facing the very real prospect of not passing unless, of course, a deal can be struck in coming days.
Many in the sector have celebrated this, including The Koala. Caps, and the way this Bill has been managed from the get-go has been sub-optimal, to say the least.
In saying this, Phil Honeywood CEO of the International Education Association of Australia makes some very valid points. He says “There is real danger now that the blunt instrument of enrolment caps will be replaced by the vagaries of Home Affairs Direction 107. This will involve giving absolute visa approval preference to some providers over others.”
“By just opposing the ESOS caps legislation, the Coalition is not providing our sector with any apparent alternative policy. We are going to have a dogs breakfast situation from now until the start of the academic year just only a few months away,” he says.
Right he is.
While the Coalition’s decision may be a win for many, especially those in the VET sector whose proposed 2025 caps would have decimated them, there is still a way to go. Judging by Senator Henderson’s performance, the sector should be wary. Clearly, she believes the cuts haven’t gone deep enough. Is this rhetoric or if a coalition government is elected will the sector be in a worse position?
The Koala leaves today thinking, if the Bill doesn’t get up, what will happen in the case of those universities/institutions who have hung up the ‘we’re full for 2025’ sign based on the proposed 2025 cap allocations? Will it be just a case of flipping the sign over? Or will there be something further on this?
Tracy Harris sums up sentiment well: With the Coalition reportedly set to oppose the ESOS Amendment Bill is anyone else feeling like this year has just been a colossal waste? Waste of time, energy, resources, worry, emotions etc etc.
The Koala can’t help but feel this too.
