Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Universities and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the government response to the report of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee on the welfare of international students.

Honourable senators will be aware that, after coal and after iron ore, Australia's largest export is education, the selling of educational services to young people right throughout the world. There is a lot of talk in this chamber at times about financial services, tourism and so forth, but in the field of education Australia truly is a superpower. The Senate would be aware that, at its peak, international education generated approximately $18 billion per annum for this country. Indeed, it has been growing rapidly, in recent years sometimes upward of 40 per cent.

Upon reflection, perhaps the growth was too quick. I think it is fair to say that during the Howard government—indeed, in the early days of the Rudd and then Gillard governments—the perception developed in the international community and among the higher education sector here in Australia as well that entrance into an Australian higher education establishment could inevitably lead to immigration or to permanent residency. So an apparent nexus developed between acceptance into higher education in this country and permanent residency. That was not a deliberate policy, but that is what came to be understood. It is fair to say that, in some quarters in East Asia and indeed on the Indian subcontinent, some education agents seemed to be pushing that barrow.

I have to compliment the government on doing this: they deliberately broke the nexus between acceptance into an Australian higher education establishment and immigration and permanent residency. That was in my view, and indeed in the coalition's view, the right thing to do, because—as the government's response to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee report indicates—the system started to fray at the edges. We had instances in Melbourne of certain higher education establishments offering below par courses. We then had instances of violence against Indian students in Melbourne. You would be aware of that, Madam Acting Deputy President. In more recent times, of course, we have had the tightening of visa restrictions and also the high Australian dollar and increased competition for higher education places from the United Kingdom and the United States. It is true, as many vice chancellors of many reputable higher education establishments have reminded me, that the problems that were caused to the Australian higher education sector really evolved because of very few courses and very few establishments. What happened was that the entire sector was tarred with the same brush. It is quite true to say that there is nothing really wrong with our universities—their standing worldwide is still very high. Similarly, our VET sector is very well regarded. But the entire higher education sector was besmirched by the failings of a few.

Far be it from me to ever have a go at the media, but I think it is fair to say that the media in India blew up the problem of violence against students. There was violence in Melbourne against Indian students, but in the end after all the reports—the police reports, the academic reports and Bruce Baird's report—the violence against Indian students was no greater than it was against any other higher education student. Young people in distant parts of Melbourne on railway lines and in railway stations are always vulnerable, but that violence was played up by the Indian media and that led directly to a slackening of uptake by Indian students of higher education places in this country. It has cost the sector billions of dollars, but it is recovering. It has to recover because, as I say, it is our largest services export industry—much larger than tourism or financial services and just below coal and iron ore. Perhaps at times people think I sound like a broken record, but it is a huge industry with not only enormous economic benefits to the country, and all the spin-off benefits of parents and friends visiting students studying in this country, but also the soft diplomacy and the soft power that Australia derives from all the young people that it educates. It is a large industry with enormous diplomatic input for and impact on this country.

All the issues I mentioned resulted in the government commissioning two reviews: the Baird review into governance of the international student sector and student support and the Knight review into student visas. As well as that, the Senate commissioned the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee to conduct this inquiry into the welfare of international students in June 2009. Two years later, nearly to the day, the government has replied. I must be in a very good mood because I am going to be very generous to the government, which is not my usual stance. I am in a very generous mood. The government's response has adopted all the recommendations of the Senate committee's report and I salute the government for so doing. In the interim, many of the issues raised in the Senate committee's report have been developed further by the Baird review and more recently by the Knight review. In the areas of student welfare and international student visas, both those very important aspects of a huge industry have been dealt with. It is a pity perhaps that it took the government two years to reply, but in the spirit of bipartisanship it must be said that the government, with the cooperation of the opposition, has made strides in trying to resurrect our international education industry, sell it better overseas, regulate the industry for quality, knock out the dodgy providers and make Australian education once again one of our proudest industries, and Australia the superpower it has always been in the area.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I also wish to speak to the report of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee on the welfare of international students. I support the comments of the previous speaker, Senator Mason, whose knowledge of this area is second to none. That was a typical contribution from the honourable senator, who spoke about matters for which he has great passion. Being a regional representative, for want of a better word, I know the enormous damage that was done to regional universities through this very difficult period. Rightly or wrongly, there are many regional universities that rely on international students. They are made very welcome by those institutions and by the communities in which they are placed. In my hometown of Ballarat, the University of Ballarat has long encouraged and has long welcomed international students, and we very much hope that those students will return.

I also take up some matters raised by Senator Macdonald in his contribution earlier on. The fact that we are again subject to another week of guillotines, another week when we are unable to debate government documents and a large number of reports, again shows the utter hypocrisy of the Australian Greens in relation to this matter. I remember full well when in the days of the Howard government the Greens used to bleat about guillotines. We get these sanctimonious speeches day in, day out from Senator Bob Brown about the gag, and here they are complicit with the Australian Labor Party in the most outrageous set of gags that we have seen over the last month. The worst, of course, was the gag on the toxic carbon tax, and I cannot believe that anyone in the Australian Labor Party can be proud of what we have seen in this chamber over the last month. The fact that their fellow travellers, the Australian Greens, are driving this constant and ongoing gag is a disgrace.

We know why this has been gagged. We know why these debates have been gagged. It is because those opposite, including the Greens, want to go home. They think they have fulfilled their responsibilities to the Australian parliament and to the Senate this year. I invite them to go back and look at the program. What does the program say? If required we will sit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week. It is required. It is required to have appropriate levels of debate in this place. It is required to enable us to articulate the views of those who put us here and to stop us being cut off at the knees by some dirty, grubby deal by the Labor-Greens coalition government, which is what they are. Who is wagging the tail with this? We are seeing it over in the other place as well. The tail is wagging the dog but never has it been worse than it is in this particular chamber.

I have said this before to the Australian Labor Party: if you go to bed with dogs, you wake up with fleas. This arrangement between the Australian Labor Party and the Greens will be the end of you. If you do not realise that, I cannot tell you any more. I am trying to save this great party of yours, and you are not listening to me. I am trying to save you, but you will not listen. You go to bed with these people to your eternal electoral detriment. They are pulling the heart out of the Australian Labor Party and you cannot see it. What they are doing to you is as plain as the nose on your face. They are destroying you. They will destroy you. You hear what they are saying. You see what they are doing. They are only using you for their own devices. They are using you and they will chew you up and spit you out when they are sick and tired of you. They will move onto the next dog when they are sick of you, when they have sucked every bit of blood out of the great Australian Labor Party. I am philosophically opposed to you, but I support your continuation because you are needed. The Australian Greens are certainly not needed. They are sucking the blood out of you and you cannot see it. They will jump to the next dog and you will not see it.

I think there are some opposite who actually do realise how dramatic this is. I think there are some opposite who realise what is happening. I think ultimately they will be proved right. I look forward to Labor reunions in due course when those who will not say it now stand up and say: 'I knew we were making a dreadful mistake when we were seduced by the Greens. They chewed us up and they spat us out.' You have got an opportunity next year. This year has bolted. I say to the Australian Labor Party: you have an opportunity next year to make sure that you represent the people who put you here. You have the opportunity next year to cut yourselves loose from this alliance from hell. It is an alliance from hell. You can do it. I encourage you to do it. Australian democracy needs you to do it.

I say to the Greens: please at least be consistent about what you say you believe in. I would love to go back and pull up the speeches from the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens about the gag, about cutting off legislation, about cutting off an appropriate level of debate and about cutting off our representation of the people who have put us here. I will throw that back on the table for you to have look at. Then the Australian Greens can make some value judgments about what they really do believe in, what they really do stand for.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

International education.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just heard the parliamentary secretary talk about 'international'. The sooner the Australian Labor Party wakes up to the fact that those who you are in bed with are indeed part of an international political movement—

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, a point of order: I bring your attention to the question of relevance. We are debating a response from the government to a report about international education numbers. We are usually fairly generous in these sorts of debates, but this has gone a bit too far.

Mark Furner (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ronaldson, I draw your attention to the matter before us—that is, debating the government response to the committee report on the welfare of international students.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. I obviously accept that. I do not know how long I have been talking for, but I would have thought it was all about education. It was about educating the Australian Labor Party that what they are doing is not a terribly smart thing. I would have thought it was an education lesson well delivered. What you need to do, if you are really sensible, is actually take it on board, study it, listen to it and then make a decision about where you want to go. I will finish as I started. International students in this country deserve the support of every single senator in this chamber. They are extraordinarily important for our international relations and they are extraordinarily important for the longevity and strength of Australia's educational institutions, particularly those in the regions.

Question agreed to.