Now let me ask: how many Australians know or care much about the internal affairs of Asian countries? Take organ harvesting for example. There is some coverage in the media from time-to-time of communist China's practice, described by human rights groups as being on an "industrial scale," of organ harvesting from prisoners and practitioners of religious groups the state does not like, mainly anything to do with meditation. But nothing much is printed about organ harvesting in other South East Asian countries, and this too is vast. And I dare say, most Aussies, in the privacy of their homes, worrying about the cost-of-living crisis, would not care. Rightly so too, as it is not our job to be moral police for the world, but rather to mind our own business.
Yet, when the Australian government makes a token effort to stop some of the excesses of the international student scam, which has produced the greatest accommodation crisis in Australian history, the immigration lobby, which has profited from this, and as well this is what the international student supermarket is all about, start screaming. And overseas newspapers continue their rhetoric, as reported below, that Australia's "international reputation" is being damaged. What reputation? If a country has a reputation for promiscuity in immigration matters, there is no reputation to be had, at least a good one. No nation with any sense of pride would have allowed the sham colleges, for example, to engage in the immigration fraud that they did. There is a word for all this.
The present cutbacks in the international student supermarket are a start; education needs to be for Australians, and if it means closing down the universities, so be it! Better institutions, much less expensive, can be set up, and should be set up.
"SYDNEY: Australia's proposed caps on international students risk jeopardising its regional relations, the financial viability and academic standing of its universities, and its reputation as a welcoming destination for foreign nationals.
Australia has provided quality higher education to international students for decades. They have come mostly from the surrounding region, especially China and India. They make a major contribution to its university and research sector and the country as a whole. Many attain their doctorate degrees in Australia and stay to work in academia.
International enrolments comprise over a quarter of total enrolments in higher education and the proportion at some universities reaches almost 50 per cent.
But in a higher education system that governments of the both conservative Liberal Party and centre-left Labor Party have long allowed to become significantly underfunded relative to its Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development peers, international student fees are now vital to sustain university operations, including critical research and other functions.
In 2019, the last full year before Australia closed its borders to keep COVID-19 away, the education industry was worth US$27 billion and was Australia's fourth-largest export.
In 2024, international enrolments have exceeded pre-COVID levels – but a national debate over migration and its impact on housing prices has had political consequences.
Two national inquiries into visa irregularities uncovered significant corruption, leading to a government crackdown on so-called ghost schools that offered visas without education and higher barriers for students from certain countries to enter Australia.
International students have been caught in the crosshairs of these rising national concerns. Though there is some evidence that rebounding international enrolments were impacting rental prices, more than four in five international students return home after completing their studies.
Undeterred, Canberra is considering capping international enrolments starting in 2025. The self-styled "Group of Eight" club of research-intensive universities and their research output would be the most impacted because they attract the majority of international students.
While this may create opportunities for regional or smaller universities, the longstanding preference for large urban environments among international students makes this an unlikely upshot.
International scholarship-holders hailing from "key partners" may be exempt from the proposed caps, but this carve-out is unlikely to placate private providers – more than half of whom have been found to be at high or moderate risk to revenue shortages and significant job losses.
Universities have been quick to point to the arbitrary nature of proposed caps and the consequences. A common argument has been that the caps are unnecessary given that increasingly higher rates of visa refusal already reduce migration numbers.
The sector's peak body has identified a A$4.3 billion (S$2.8 billion) economic hit over the last six months and projects job losses up to 14,000 from the cuts. This aligns with another macroeconomic analysis which found that international student spending contributed over half of Australia's total economic growth for 2023."
These claims about the economic contribution of international students have been decisively refuted at Marcobusiness.com.au. It is more ideology, but it is worth reading what we are up against.