Australian immigration news

International Education is “Australia’s Bast*rd Child”: IEAA

Phil Honeywood, Executive Director of International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) said the sector he represents is at the crossroad following the counterproductive 2011 Knight Review recommendations to student visas.

In a strongly worded communiqué, IEAA went so far as to describe the sector as “like the bast*rd child of Australia’s export industry”.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/stop-treating-us-as-a-bastard-child-sector-appeals-to-next-government/story-e6frgcjx-1226696586231

IEAA said Australia is losing ground to Canada, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom and other competing nation.  Australia’s fragmented and unhurried approach to international students has given our competitors the edge.

According to Mr Honeywood, the international education sector employs about 100,000 people directly and is a key driver for the tourism industry through visiting families and employed many hundreds of thousands indirectly.

This call-to-arms follows from a HSBC report that measured Australia to be the most expensive place in the world for a university education if you’re a foreign student. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/australia-most-expensive-for-overseas-students/2006492.article

Average tuition fees in Australia cost is $38,516 (in US dollars), while in the US it is 35,705; in the UK, $30,325; and Canada, $26,011.

HSBC did not factor into its analysis other variables such as the cost of visa fees, the availability of part-time work and internships, all of which affect Australia’s competitiveness.

Migration Alliance supports the IEAA in its efforts make lost ground in educational industry, including student visa reform and a better alignment of the skilled occupation list with visa categories, like the Temporary Graduate visa.

Since 2009, four Federal Education and four Immigration Ministers made foolish decisions without consideration to either portfolio or the broader implications to one of Australia’s biggest export sectors. 

International education is Victoria’s top export industry; New South Wales it is the second largest and it is in the top five of every other jurisdiction.

Australia cannot afford these kinds of headlines appearing in the India press as it did yesterday in Bangalore’s The New Indian Express. 

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Australia-costliest-in-higher-education/2013/08/14/article1733535.ece

Australia’s most militant union is running an anti-migrant campaign in a key Victorian marginal seat held by the Australian Labor Party.

Reported in today’s The Australian, the Construction Forestry Mining & Energy Union is running a campaign claiming an Abbott-led Coalition Government will see the labour market ‘flooded’ by foreign workers.

CFMEU leader, Mr Noonan, disingenuously stated: “ I believe the people of Corangamite, we hear, are very concern about the 457 issue.”

http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2013L01534/Explanatory%20Statement/Text 

BRENDAN DARCY