For those working in international education, Senate Estimates offers a useful insight into what is exercising ministers, regulators and parliamentarians. This round was no exception, with international students featuring across multiple portfolios as senators questioned agencies about student visa appeals, provider integrity, migration pathways, labour exploitation and the Government’s decision to pause new CRICOS registrations and course additions in the VET sector.
Following up on February
There are two items from the February Estimates that are worthy of a recap.
ASQA suspension
As this author noted (TKN 030326), there was an interesting exchange following questions from Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic about planned ministerial cancellations. At the time Kovacic commented “[it was] our understanding that there were ministerial cancellations planned from day one”, to which Labor Senator Jess Walsh replied: “there’s evidence that needs to be collected, and all the work is under consideration”. The article concluded with “The Koala will be watching closely for any indications that course cancellations are being planned”.
What we now know is that in May the Assistant Minister for International Education suspended new applications for Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) registrations and courses to the National VET Regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), for 12 months.
The decision featured prominently during this round of Estimates and is discussed further below.
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Conference
Although not directly related to international education, in December (TKN 111226) this author noted that TEQSA’s appearance during Estimates was largely taken up by questions about its conference and the number of staff who attended:
“I wonder who had a word in his ear about this? I’m certain that education providers in attendance are grateful for the opportunity to meet TEQSA staff in person at the conference. Let’s hope that this isn’t lost in the politicising of budget spend”.
Without claiming to be prophetic, last week TEQSA announced that its 2026 annual conference will be virtual. This is a great shame for the sector given that other than its senior people, TEQSA is largely a faceless organisation now that it has abandoned case managers and centralised inquiries.
Administrative Review Tribunal (ART)
The ART reported that as at 30 April it had 130,983 cases on hand, up from 129,444 on 31 January:
- 52,452 student visa cases on hand, up from 50,686 (31 January) and 48,826 (30 November 2025).
- 56 per cent of the total ART case load is related to migration and students represent 35 per cent of the case load.
- 20 per cent of protection matters started as student visas (the protection case load is 37,830). The ART took on notice a question about the figures for the last five years, so expect to see this raised again.
The ART was asked about whether there had been a reprioritisation to clear student visa cases. The Mr Michael Hawkins AM, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Registrar indicated that all ART members have undertaken training in the student visa case load and that it had a plan for all members to do 10 per cent of their case days in the student visa case load, with full-time members doing 20 per cent. The ART expects to have 423 members by 1 July 2026.
Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
Questions about student visa matters and migration were raised during February Estimates, however there were no questions on this topic this time.
Home Affairs
On Net Overseas Migration (NOM) for the 12 months to 30 September 2025, Home Affairs reported:
- Arrivals were down seven per cent
- Departures were up 33 per cent
- Students down 18 per cent
On temporary visa holders:
- At 31 March there were 2.994 million temporary visa holders in Australia, up from 2.857 million at 30 November 2025.
- 732,000 temporary visa holders are New Zealand citizens, the largest cohort
- At 30 April there were 441,000 bridging visa holders, up from 412,578 at 31 December 2025
There was also one question from Greens Senator David Shoebridge about whether there was any consideration to lift student work entitlements above 24 hours per week, which received a clear ‘not at this moment’ response from the Home Affairs Secretary.
Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO)
Greens Senator Barbara Pocock raised concerns about a specific case of wage theft of more than ten international students in Melbourne with one employer, including concerns about the length of waiting time to contact the FWO. Although not across the specific case, Michael Campbell, Group Manager, Operations, acknowledged that migrant workers were disproportionately represented in its litigation practice. It was also noted that of all litigations commenced in 2024-25, 34 per cent were temporary visa holders, despite only being eight per cent of the workforce.
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (including Jobs and Skills Australia)
One of the more politically charged exchanges occurred during the hearing covering Jobs and Skills Australia and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, where Liberal Senator Matt O’Sullivan questioned officials about claims that some international students are enrolling in early childhood education and care (ECEC) courses primarily as a migration pathway.
O’Sullivan cited a 31 May article alleging that some international students viewed ECEC qualifications as a route to visas or permanent residency. Departmental officials, who were previously unaware of the article, acknowledged broader integrity concerns in parts of the vocational education and training sector and pointed to recent regulatory reforms aimed at lifting quality standards.
Officials also said that visa integrity issues fall primarily within the responsibilities of Home Affairs, while training quality and provider regulation involve education and skills agencies. They outlined measures introduced in recent years, including tighter oversight of providers enrolling international students.
When asked whether Fee-Free TAFE enrolments were being tracked to determine whether graduates remained in the ECEC workforce, officials said they could not currently provide that analysis and took several questions on notice.
Country Liberal Party Senator Nampijinpa Price asked how many providers would be affected by the Government’s decision to pause new CRICOS registrations and course additions for 12 months. Officials acknowledged they do not know how many providers were considering becoming CRICOS providers or how many existing providers were planning to add new courses.
The exchange also highlighted the cross-portfolio nature of international education policy. While the pause affects VET and ELICOS providers, officials repeatedly emphasised that the power sits under the ESOS Act and was exercised by Assistant Minister Julian Hill. The department took on notice questions about its engagement with the Assistant Minister, including the number of meetings and briefs provided.
Senator O’Sullivan also questioned why the Government’s first use of the new ESOS integrity powers targeted prospective providers rather than existing providers already under investigation, noting that ASQA is currently managing 232 serious matters involving 159 providers.
In response, officials suggested the 12-month pause would give ASQA additional capacity to undertake deeper investigations, scrutinise applications already in the system and monitor market behaviour. They also linked the decision not only to integrity concerns but to what they described as a mismatch between declining international VET student numbers and continued growth in provider applications.
Officials noted that international VET commencements had fallen by 23 per cent between 2024 and 2025, while the number of ELICOS providers had increased from around 299 in 2021 to 370 in 2026. Approximately 900 VET providers were registered on CRICOS as of May 2026.
Australian Skills Quality Agency (ASQA)
ASQA revealed that around 63 per cent of the 159 providers currently subject to its most serious investigations deliver training to international students. However, the regulator stopped short of linking the majority of those matters directly to international student activity.
The 232 serious matters being investigated span allegations including qualification fraud, fabricated assessments, funding fraud, ghost colleges and visa-related risks. ASQA did not provide a breakdown of how many investigations specifically relate to international students, nor how many involve domestic training activity.
Similarly, while ASQA said it had cancelled the registrations of 85 CRICOS providers over the past five years, it did not indicate how many of those cancellations were driven by issues connected to international student delivery rather than broader compliance or governance concerns.
The figures therefore provide only a partial picture of the extent to which international student delivery features in ASQA’s current enforcement activity.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
There was no mention of international students during the DFAT hearing. There was a brief mention of the New Colombo Plan in the context of a question about Indonesian language training and fluency, noting its recent reforms.
National Student Ombudsman
There were no questions asked of the National Student Ombudsman.
Estimates highlights
Regular readers of The Koala’s Estimates wrap-ups will know that there is usually something that catches this author’s attention unrelated to international education. This time around it was Labor Senator Raff Ciccone, the chair of the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee who was caught in a hot mic moment after calling lunch, muttering under his breath, “thank f*** for that”. Surely a sentiment shared by every public servant in attendance.
With further transcripts and answers to questions on notice still to come, there will be more to cover in Part 2.
