Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate that the Attorney-General has come into the Committee himself to take questions on the Immigration and Citizenship portfolio. The questions that I would like to put to him are particularly pertinent to South Australia, and the need for South Australia to attract new migrants—particularly skilled migrants—not only to meet our needs but also to meet challenges in terms of population and the growth of our state. I notice the member for Port Adelaide is in the chamber, and I am sure that he would regard this as a very bipartisan issue, given the need of South Australians for a higher population. Both the state Labor government and the federal Liberal Party have been in lock step over this for the last few years, particularly with my role in the APop—the Australian Population Institute in South Australia—and my work with Kevin Foley in relation to the need to grow our population.

There are a number of areas where the federal government has in the past played, and could again play, a very practical role in attracting migrants to South Australia. One of those I would like to specifically ask the Attorney-General about is reinstating the value to international students of studying in South Australia. Prior to the 1 September changes to the general skilled migration program last year, there was a significant benefit to international students studying in South Australia. It helped South Australia attract a significant increase in the number of international students that studied in Adelaide, because the system awarded applicants with five points for studying in a regional area. While these points are still available under the revised program they do not have the impact and attractiveness they had previously. I will give an example.

Under the old system, a 25-year-old international student studying for a Bachelor of IT in Adelaide would have obtained the following points—60 for skill, 30 for age, 20 for English—obtaining a minimum of six in each of the four components of the IELTS test—five for Australian qualification and five for regional study, which is a total of 120. By comparison, a student studying in Sydney, for example, would obtain the following points: 60 for skill, 30 for age, 20 for English and five for Australian qualification, which is a total of 115 points.

Under the previous system, this student would need to study in South Australia in order to be eligible for the five points for regional study so that they could meet the 120 points requirement. One of the biggest changes to the new GSM program introduced in September 2007 is in English. Previously, a score of six in each of the four components of the test resulted in 20 points. Now six equals 15 points and seven equals 25 points. Using the same scenario as before but substituting the applicant’s score from six to seven in each of the four components of the IELTS test, the results would be as follows in South Australia: 60 for skill, 30 for age, 25 for English, five for Australian qualification and five for regional study, which is 125. Using the same scenario for a Sydney based student, it would be 60 for skill, 30 for age, 25 for English and five for Australian qualification, giving them 120 points in total, therefore wiping out the previous five regional study points that gave South Australia its advantage. It would therefore give the 120 points to the student who might choose to study in Sydney. As we have known in the past, that is often a choice that they make.

I am asking the Attorney, in a rather longwinded and complicated fashion, whether the current government will consider reinstating the advantage that a regional student studying in somewhere like Adelaide would have by altering the points that are available, particularly under the English component of the IELTS test.

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