Thousands of 7-Eleven workers, mainly foreign students, who were underpaid for years will be granted amnesty if they come forward and help with the investigations by the Fairwork Ombudsman, the department of immigration has announced.

Immigration minister Peter Dutton initially refused to grant general amnesty and said that the DIBP would look into amnesty on a case by case basis – meaning students had to trust and hope that the DIBP would do the right thing if they came forward to report the abuse by their employers.

This response to the 7-Eleven pay scandal was slammed as appalling by both Lawyers and the independent panel head reviewing the matter. Labor, the Greens, unions and advocates condemned this approach as naive and one that would effectively prevent students from coming forward to help with the investigations into the biggest wage scandal in Australian history.

The DIBP has now dumped the approach announced by Mr Dutton and succumbed to the pressure from many quarters to grant amnesty to every student who comes forward to assist with the investigations.

Michael Manthorpe, the immigration department’s deputy secretary told the senate enquiry investigating the 7-Eleven scandal that international students who came forward to help the Fair Work ombudsman’s investigation, would have “no action taken against them”.

Labor Senator Kim Carr asked if this amounted to an amnesty, to which Mr Manthorpe replied: "so long as they are prepared to comply with their visa conditions prospectively, they won't be cancelled."

There have been media reports that some franchises had threatened to dob-in students who tried to make any form of claims of underpayment. This fear and the distrust of the DIBP have kept students from making claims for compensation and would have effectively allowed franchisees to get away with potentially millions of dollars in underpayments.

It is estimated that some 4000 students were underpaid for years with many owed sums in excess of $20,000. Some reports allege that many workers were paid $10 an hour before tax – well below the award rate of $24 per hour.

The top brass of the Australian Border Force (ABF) has publically apologised for the bungled “Operation Fortitude’ on a ‘clumsily worded” media release indicating that there was no intention to randomly check the visa status of whoever the ABF officers came across. In contrast, internal emails obtained by the ABC show that ABF officers actually planned to conduct ‘status checks’.

DIBP has gone into damage control again. Just after Secretary of Immigration Michael Pezzullo and Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg both publically apologised for the "clumsily worded" media release that led to public outcry and protest against ABFs attempt to conduct illegal visa checks on August 20 this year, the ABC's 7.30 Report has discovered documents showing that six ABF officers were to conduct "status checks" at two taxi ranks, speaking with members of the public who they suspected could be in Australia illegally and without a valid visa.

Facing a Senate Committee, Mr Pezzullo seemed to brush off the saga as an over-reaction from the media and the public for an honest mistake. He told the senate estimates committee that "It is clear that the media release issued that morning was very badly worded and gave rise to the impression that the ABF has general powers of questioning people in the street. It does not, and I apologise for the impression that was wrongly created.

"We certainly don't rely on racial profiling at all" said Secretary of Immigration Michael Pezzullo.

However, the ABC has discovered that talking points and the associated media release were approved within a number of levels with the final version reaching the Minister’s office. The internal documents obtained by the ABC describe the role of ABF officers as being "positioned at various locations within the Melbourne CBD, speaking to individuals who we suspect may be in Australia illegally without a current and valid visa".

The points said if officers were asked by journalists who they would target they should reply: "We will be speaking with any individual we cross paths with."

An ambitious target has been set by Austrade in its market development plan, to double the number of foreign students here to 1 million by the year 2025.

This could see the value of the education industry rise to over $36 billion in just 10 years. According to the report Australian International Education 2025, part of the growth plan is to promote Australian education in new markets more aggressively. John Angley, general manager at Austrade, said several regions have been earmarked for development and they include Brazil, Colombia, West Africa and the Gulf States.

“We’ll always be welcoming eligible Indian and Chinese students but we think that if we’re going to grow the size of the market, we should also take the opportunity and diversify where students come from,” Mr Angley told PIE news. He added that these are “markets which aren’t new to Australia but have potential to build stronger relationships.”

The sector however faces numerous challenges including capacity, maintaining quality and keeping public opinion on its side.

The Australia International Education Conference held in Adelaide earlier this month warned that the government was not doing enough to explain to the Australian public the importance of the education industry and international students to the economy.

Commentators pointed out that in a slowing economy, foreign workers and foreign students are unfortunately targeted by politicians as the source of the problem with many often threatening to reduce the numbers with no due consideration of the actual and significant contribution of these international visitors to the economy.

On his first international visit as prime minister, Mr Malcolm Turnbull has announced that New Zealanders who have been living in Australia since childhood will be given access to student loans for the first time next year.

Under the plan, Kiwis who have lived in Australia for at least 10 years and hold a Special Category Visa will be eligible for a loan to help them study at TAFE or university from January, according to a report on the ABC.

Mr Turnbull said if the bill is passed this year, about 2,600 Kiwis will be able to take advantage of the scheme in 2016.

The announcement that New Zealanders will be able to access student loans in Australia, was however overshadowed by the continued criticism in New Zealand of Australia’s stance on deporting non-citizens who have been cumulatively sentenced to 12 months or more in prison.

Australia is reportedly deporting 1 New Zealander a day under the tough laws. It is estimated that up to 1000 criminals could be sent back to New Zealand in the next five years, despite having few or no ties with the country.

In order to allow passage of the China free-trade agreement, the Coaltion government is considering Labor’s compromise proposals, one of which requires that that the income threshold for sc457 workers is increased from the current levels.

Labor has proposed an increase in the TSMIT under 457 scheme from a market rate of $53,900 to $57,000.

The proposal goes directly against the sc457 review committee’s recommendation that the TSMIT is frozen at $53,900 as well as DIBP figures showing that current average wages in the key industry sectors where sc457 workers are hired are well below Labor’s proposal.

If accepted, Labor’s compromise plan for passage of the China free-trade agreement would knock out more than one quarter of this year’s 457 visa program and price some regional areas out of the scheme, according to a report in The Australian.