Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to bring to the attention of the Senate the plight of more than 800,000 international students who are currently residing in Australia. They have chosen Australia, in a highly competitive market, as the place to come to live and study. Their decision to study here contributes over $39 billion in export income to our economy and helps support nearly a quarter of a million jobs. They are guests in our country, learning from our best and brightest and taking their opinion of Australia with them around the world. During this crisis we've seen an increase in unemployment, industries in crisis and the start of a recession. And what has been the government's plan for these guests of ours? Well, it's been nothing short of terrible. It has lacked compassion and empathy. These young people will go on to be leaders in their communities, and how we treat them will inform their views of Australia for many years to come.

I want to acknowledge the many organisations that I have been engaging with over this period who are working with those students and demonstrating that Australians are a compassionate and caring people. I would like to acknowledge the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations; Unions NSW and their Visa Assist service; Victorian Trades Hall; Migrant Workers Centre; and the National Union of Students. On Wednesday last week I had the great privilege to speak with many of these international students through a forum organised by the National Union of Students—a forum to rally support for these students amongst politicians and engage the government to do much more to help. Sadly, this ignorant government will likely ignore the pleas for help. It is help that is desperately needed. When Melbourne City Council opened its food voucher program called Our Shout, 17,000 students applied in 36 hours, despite the scheme being designed for only 1,000 students.

Then there are the worrying reports from national food relief charities. They advise that the increase in demand for their services from temporary visa holders has been enormous. Brianna Casey, the chief executive of Foodbank, told the Guardian on 15 May her organisation has experienced a 50 per cent increase in demand during the pandemic. She then went on to say:

We had a group of students present to one of our food banks on the weekend who hadn't eaten for a week … We are seeing right now across the country is an extreme impact on that cohort of university and college students. We are very, very concerned about their welfare at the moment.

What has been the response of the minister? In a shameful statement he simply told them to go home, a message ignorant of the facts and lacking any compassion. It is simply the wrong message to send to these students. Let's not forget many of these students have come to Australia paid for by the life savings of their parents—an investment by their parents for an education and, hopefully, a better life for their children. So what is the minister saying? That they should abandon their family's life savings and simply head home? In too many circumstances they can't. It is just wrong.

The final insult to these students has come through the exclusion of visa holders from access to JobKeeper. This decision has guaranteed much suffering and unnecessary hardship. The students who are working in Australia to support their studies have the least financial means to survive the loss of this income. If they are in Australia as a student and working to support themselves, it's highly unlikely that they'll have a large bank of savings to fall back on. No wonder the food queues have been enormous. The decision to exclude them from JobKeeper should be reversed, and the government should show some compassion.