Until the Coalition’s intentions to oppose the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024 were leaked to the mainstream media yesterday morning, the expectation of the international education sector was that the Bill would pass the Senate during this sitting period. Indeed, this was the consensus during the recent Australian International Education Conference with a range of sessions focusing on what happens in 2025 when enrolment caps become a reality.
The reaction to the leak and the subsequent media release by Senators Sarah Henderson and James Paterson, and Dan Tehan MP, Coalition to oppose Labor’s education and immigration mess, by the sector was swift and a summary has been provided below.
However, this summary of reactions has a caveat, as they occurred prior to Henderson’s statement on the Bill in the Senate last night. Although the media release gives some indication of the concerns of the Coalition, Henderson’s statement in the Senate was far more detailed, and it may be a case that the sector should be careful what it wishes for.
Labor’s response
Equally swift to respond to the surprise news was Minister for Education, Jason Clare, who said, “Never in my life did I expect to see Peter Dutton get into bed with the Greens on immigration”.
There were no ‘happy birthday’ messages for the Leader of the Opposition yesterday, instead Clare called Dutton a “fraud” and that his credibility would be damaged by voting against the Bill. He said, “You can’t talk tough on immigration and then go soft on this. 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 also confirmed what Labor has been saying for months now, “If the Bill doesn’t go through the Senate, then the de facto cap, which is Ministerial Direction 107, stays”.
Universities Australia (UA)
In response, Universities Australia Chief Executive Officer Luke Sheehy accused the Government and the Opposition of continuing “to have a phony war blaming international students on the migration and housing issue right through to the election. That is a matter for them. But what I will say is both sides of politics need to get real about investing in Australia’s world-class university sector that relies so much on international student revenue.”.
UA again called for the immediate removal of Ministerial Direction 107 (MD107), continuing to raise its concerns about the impact of MD107 on the finances of universities, with 60,000 few student visas and loss of an estimated $4 billion from the economy.
“Australia’s universities are again being used as a political football in the migration debate,” said Sheehy, “This appears to be lost on both sides of politics as they continue to treat international students as cannon fodder in the political battle over migration and housing.”
The Group of Eight
The Group of Eight (Go8) was more positive about the Coalition’s opposition to the Bill, with Chief Executive Vicki Thomson saying, “this outcome puts Australia’s national interest ahead of short-term political posturing and restores certainty”.
The funding of Australia’s university sector was the focus of the Go8’s response, believing that opposition to the Bill in the Senate “opens the door for a constructive discussion about how we should not only manage growth in the international education sector but how we fund our university based research effort”.
“Successive governments have encouraged and supported Australia’s international education sector but it has come at the expense of adequately funding our domestic teaching and our research”, said Thomson.
International Education Association of Australia (IEAA)
International Education Association of Australia Chief Executive Officer, Phil Honeywood, raised concerns about what happens next, once the Coalition opposes the Bill.
“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,” Honeywood told The Koala (TKN 191124).
“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.”
Innovative Research Universities (IRU) and Regional Universities Network (RUN)
Following the lead of UA, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) and the Regional Universities Network (RUN) have also joined forces saying that they will call for the Government to “immediately revoke” MD107 if the ESOS Bill doesn’t pass the Senate.
IRU Executive Director, Paul Harris said that MD107 unfairly impacts students applying to IRU and RUN universities, adding that it “undermines equity, undermines diversification and undermines the ability of our universities to invest in new models of international education”.
While acknowledging Government’s role in managing international education as part of the overall migration program, RUN Chief Executive Officer, Alec Webb, said that “there must be a better approach than the current system”.
“Regional and outer metropolitan universities do the heavy lifting when it comes to opening up access to higher education and educating students from equity cohorts, and yet it is our students and universities that have been the worst hit by Ministerial Direction 107”, he said.
New international student commencements at the IRU and RUN are down by a quarter and a third respectively, from 2023 to 2024.
Independent Higher Education Australia (IHEA)
Like the Go8, Independent Higher Education Australia also welcomed the Coalition’s decision to oppose the Bill.
Dr Peter Hendy, IHEA’s Chief Executive Officer, “praised” the Coalition’s decision, stating, “The Coalition’s opposition to the ESOS Bill demonstrates a clear understanding of the potential damage this legislation could inflict on our world-class higher education system and our reputation as a premier destination for international students.”
“It’s refreshing to see the Coalition recognise the far-reaching consequences of such ill-conceived legislation,” Hendy said.
IHEA has called on the Government to revoke MD107 and for the Government to reconsider its approach and engage in meaningful consultation with the sector.
Andrew Norton
Respected higher education policy expert and Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University, Andrew Norton, warns that for “universities, TAFEs, private colleges and potential international students, this news will be cause for relief, but not celebration”.
Norton also said that although the Coalition’s current position is surprising, given they have previously supported caps, “it does not change their overall policy goal of restricting international student numbers. They could cap enrolments in a different way”.
You can read more of his views here.
And then there’s me
If you’ll also allow me the opportunity to share my reaction. Prior to yesterday, I didn’t think that a Peter Dutton-led Coalition would oppose the ESOS Bill, with my rationale being supported by Clare’s comments above, that Labor will use any opposition to the Bill as ammunition during next year’s election.
That was until I watched Henderson’s statement in the Senate on the Bill last night and understood the Coalition’s narrative going forward into an election year in 2025, with Henderson saying “In contrast to this hapless Prime Minister and this incompetent government, a coalition government will deliver decisive action to reduce migration”.
Three key points from Henderson’s statement:
- It signals an intention to go even harder on reducing international student numbers in Australia than proposed by the Government, with Henderson saying that “The proposed cap in this bill before the Parliament will not even touch the sides of [the migration] problem”.
- It criticised the exemptions that the Government has made to enrolment caps, saying that new commencements could be around 400,000 when added to the 270,000 National Planning Level.
- The Coalition believes there is a link between international students and rental costs, with the statement detailing rent rises in urban areas around universities.
A deeper dive on the statements on the Bill in the Senate is warranted, once all sides have had their say and including more on what Henderson said, and it will be coming in The Koala.
In the meantime, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi has more than once accused Labor and the Opposition of being on a race to the bottom. I can’t help but think we might have had an insight last night into what the bottom might look like.
*Note that at the time of writing the Senate Order of Business has not been released for 19 November. The Koala is watching.
