Already a subscriber?Peter Dutton’s ambition to get temporary migration down to 160,000 per year would mean one student would have to leave the country for every one that arrives, effectively smashing the $48 billion international education export sector, migration expert Abul Rizvi said.
International students have become a “political plaything” and the sector is under threat, experts warn.International education was valued at $48 billion in 2023, accounting for more than half of Australia’s economic growth and employing more than 200,000 people. Without international education, our CBDs would be pretty sad places and government coffers would look a lot smaller.Mr Dutton also implied he would introduce an overall cap on the number of students who could come to Australia. The Albanese government has said it will give each college and university a cap, which it can only go over if it commits to building more student accommodation.
“To suggest that international students are somehow responsible for the economic challenges that our community faces, such as housing, and then to imply that cutting those numbers will somehow benefit the nation, shows an unfortunate lack of understanding for just how important this export sector is to our economy.