Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

As Senator Rhiannon has just indicated, the hundreds and thousands of international students that study in Australia—from India, from China, from Thailand, from Korea, from the United States and from Indonesia, to name just a few—come to Australia on study visas and have a huge beneficial impact on our economy. They are here to learn and they also make a huge difference in terms of the number of jobs they create. I think there is unanimity in this chamber about the beneficial effects of the overseas student sector on this nation's economy. I know that, in my home state of South Australia—in Adelaide in particular—overseas students are a critical part of the fabric of our tertiary education sector. Whether it is for higher education, vocational education and training, secondary school or English language sectors, these individuals pay tens of thousands in tuition fees, in visas, in travel costs and in rent, and in other costs associated with their studies.

The ESOS is designed to ensure financial and tuition assurance to overseas for course for which they paid, to protect and enhance Australia's reputation for quality education and training services and to complement Australia's migration laws by ensuring the collection and reporting of information relevant to the administration of the law relating to student visas. However, a number of closures of international education schools—12 schools in 2009—has resulted in a loss of confidence amongst some international students in Australia as a destination of choice, and that is something that we must reverse; it is something that we must address. We all read stories about schools closing without notice—in some cases it was literally open one day and closed the next. Students had no idea what had happened. They were ready to turn up to learn, only to find the doors locked and the school shut. That is what spurred the Baird Review of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, which recom­mended stronger regulations to better protect Australia's reputation as a provider of quality education. I moved an amendment to the 2009 ESOS bill, supported by the Australian Greens. I foreshadow that, although I will not seek to divide on it, I will be moving a similar amendment today, because it needs to be acknowledged that when an overseas student moves to Australia to study they incur significant costs, such as travel costs, rent and fees associated with organising visas.

Under the amendment that has been circulated in my name, the minister will have the power to regulate for certain consequential costs to be accounted for by the provider and thereby the ESOS Assurance Fund in the same way as tuition fees currently are. I must emphasise that this is about giving the minister the power to regulate. I find it extraordinary, going on what has occurred previously, that the government and the opposition have not seen fit to support this approach. The ESOS Assurance Fund was established in 2000 to protect the interests of current and intending overseas students. I believe this amendment will help those international students who spend or plan to spend tens of thousands of dollars to come to Australia to feel assured that, in the unlikely event that their provider closes, they will not be disadvantaged.

I will speak to the amendment during the committee stage, when I will have more to say about it. I think it is absolutely critical that we acknowledge that international student numbers are down. Of course, there are a number of factors in this: the fallout from the GFC and the all-too-high Australian dollar. But this risk of provider collapses is also a factor, and it is a factor that we in this parliament have the power to address. That is why it is important that this amendment be seriously considered. I support the measures under the bill, but I think we need to think seriously about how we plan to rebuild our international student market. The amendment I will be moving is one way of strengthening the bill and of strengthening our international student market in this nation.