Government unveils ‘highly problematic’ Migration Strategy

While the federal government’s recent Migration Strategy was heralded for its potential to address the country’s excessive migration intake, educators are concerned it might undermine the country’s international education sector.

The Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) has called out the federal government’s new “highly problematic” Migration Strategy for being based on “broad and often inaccurate generalisations”.

The strategy, published late last year, came off the back of a review led by former secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr Martin Parkinson, which found that the system was “so badly broken” that it required a decade-long rebuild.

In introducing the report, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted that national migration levels are excessively high. “We do need to have our migration levels brought to a sustainable level,” he said. Indeed, more than 500,000 people have settled in Australia over the past while little has been done to accommodate them.

Foreign students are among those targeted by the report. “People are coming here, enrolling in courses that don’t really add substantially to either their skills base or to the national interest here,” said Mr Albanese.

The international education sector is of great value to the Australian economy. As Australia’s fourth-largest export, contributing almost $35 billion to the economy and supporting 240,000 jobs, reform is bound to cause controversy. Employers, too, have enjoyed the benefits of hiring foreign students who often enhance workplace cultural diversity, help to encourage innovation, and boost productivity.

While the government has not capped the number of foreign students to be allowed into the country under the Migration Strategy, it has made the application requirements more onerous while clamping down on the “permanent temporary” foreign student. As noted by ABC News, the strategy “will crack down on low-quality training providers and [will] limit opportunities for student visas to be used as a backdoor for low-skilled workers to stay in Australia”.

ITECA took issue with the language used in the strategy, which, it claimed, painted an unjustifiably bleak picture of the existing international training landscape.

“The language in the Migration Strategy is reckless and ignores the high-quality skills training outcomes that the majority of international students in Australia receive,” said Troy Williams, chief executive of ITECA.

“There is a real risk that [the strategy] will diminish Australia’s reputation as a high-quality provider of skills training to international students,” added Mr Williams.

ITECA warned against taking rash action on migration as a result of the findings of the strategy. The peak body has called on legislators to work in consultation with ITECA members to preserve Australia’s international educational offerings.

The word of caution given by ITECA recalls KPMG’s chief economist Brendan Rynne’s recent warning against the government making a “knee-jerk reaction” when it comes to migration. At the heart of the migration conversation has been the claim that more migration means fewer opportunities for Australian nationals.

In response, Mr Rynne said that the short-term challenges, such as housing and job shortages, are less severe than the potential consequences of impulsive governmental intervention.

“I’d actually live with the short-term challenges that we’ve got at the moment. I think ultimately the market will sort themselves out with regards to housing investment, and then I’d rather do that than turn away skilled migrants who are unlikely to come back later on,” said Mr Rynne.

According to Mr Rynne, research has consistently shown that skilled migration positively contributes to the Australian economy through productivity gains.

“If we start to pare back on skilled migration, then the likelihood is that down the track, we won’t achieve the same productivity kicker that we need, and then ultimately, we won’t get the real wage growth that we want to see,” he explained.

When it comes to foreign students, ITECA has voiced concerns over a potential cap on national intake: “The fact that the Australian government has not ruled out placing a cap on the number of international students able to come into Australia is of concern,” said Mr Williams.

“While we broadly welcome the direction of the reforms set out in the strategy, the ITECA membership has concerns that the Australian government’s response will be disproportionate to the risk that may exist.”