Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McKenzie for yet another thoughtful question in the education and training portfolio. Our international education sector is absolutely booming, and booming to good effect for all Australians. We have seen some 11 per cent growth in international education participation numbers in Australia since 2013. Since the coalition came to power there has been 11 per cent growth in student numbers, which is ensuring that we have greater economic activity across a whole range of parts of the economy supported by those international students. So far in 2016 we have had a record half a million international students studying in Australia. That shows the scale of this sector now—half a million different international students passing through Australia already in 2016, shared across all states, shared across all major cities and shared across our rural and regional areas as well. ABS data shows that international education contributed $20.3 billion to Australia's economy in 2015-16, making it our third largest exporter after coal and iron ore.

We see from that new data the absolute scale supporting an estimated 130,700 full-time-equivalent jobs—jobs across the construction sector as accommodation is built, jobs across accommodation maintenance, jobs and opportunities for Australians across hospitality, and, of course, jobs and opportunities for Australians in education services themselves. These are enormous opportunities that are not only creating employment opportunities for Australians today but also enhancing our cooperation with other countries of the region through the collaborative education approaches that are undertaken between those international students and the Australian students they are studying alongside. (Time expired)