articnorth

yeah.

education is australia's 3rd main export other than mining.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

only because it leads to PR for many... in otherwords, a scam.

ex_exile

And it was responsible for the current spike in immigration, for Abbott to try and blame Gillard for that is laughable the route to PR visas for these students were locked in 3/4 years ago under Howards rules and are now working their way through the system. You cant blame the students for taking up the offer, its a good deal!

One journalist picked up on this in the debate so maybe the press understand and we will hear more.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Of course I don't. It would be interesting to know just how useful many of those students, who completed the courses and now have PR, have been to the Australian economy in their chosen fields?.

ABCDiamond

This part especially:

fish.01

Yes, but comments all around that statement put it in context. It also states that we are the only country in the world that links it in that way.

ABCDiamond

Just proving that it's different in Australia

But I wonder why Australia does it that way, reducing the offshore applications for each onshore one ?
Do other countries have strict annual total limits the same way that Australia does ?
If they do, how do they get around their boat arrival numbers ?

dave99

Have you ever seen how expensive international student fees are? they bring in billions in cash every year, just in fees not including money in rent/food/etc
Losing a lot of students would be a massive blow to the aus economy

dave99

wow I had not heard of these, they will get my vote, cheers for that

all the others are time wasting nincompoops anyway

Tina7

Nothing ignites the fair, hemorrhoidal bogan anuses such as the immigration er I mean the population and sustainability debate.

There was a loophole in the Act that enabled many students to rort the system and gain PR. Isn't it the nature of private enterprise to comb through regulations and find the soft white underbelly of government and perhaps exploit it?

This all smacks of a partisan populist view that is a dog whistle for the pollies and the denizens that can barely walk upright. No sense losing sleep over this as xenophobia has been in existence since the arrival of the second fleet in 1790.

Weebie

Schools cough cough PR Factories lol

Weebie

Since Britain has decided to shut the door on immigration Australia needs to cut back abit. Britain is always the number 1 expat destination for Australians and to deny tens of thousands of Australians the ability to work in Britain means we need to cut tens of thousands of skilled migrant visas here.

spalen

When they cut the university student migration program that everyone is agreeing is "great" because it stops this "fast path" to PR (3-4yrs study is hardly a fast path) im sure we'll all be happy paying the University fees for our kids that have suddenly quadrupled. Or higher taxes to fund the same places fees?

This is a really short sighted and stupid idea. I cannot begin to count how many of the people I work with around asia did their degree here or at least some part of their degree. Singaporeans, Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, all of whom are now senior people and respected professionals. Who come back here on holiday, who drive business between australia and their home countries (they are back in their home countries btw). How many pharmacists do you see who are born in australia? How many young doctors. How many dentists. How many of those have degree certificates on their office walls from Australian universities. Start to look around and think of the consequences of this shortsightedness. This country needs migration, skilled, or via university it delivers the same result - people who contribute to the country.

This immigration issue is a total nonsense, and as usual the politicians (because the media is letting them) are jumping all over it and using it to mask the fact they cant fix other major problems. Like how the hell they are going to fund a climate change mandate that is going to push electricity and fuel prices through the roof, how they are going to repay the blowout from the GFC, how they are going to fund the super increases required , how to deal with modernising the laughable healthcare system, reducing the bloated government offices at state,federal, and local levels....

Great -lets all worry instead about those foreign devils in the boats, or all those korean students we see in the food courts. Those students who pay upwards of 15-30k/year on fees, subsidising university places for australian students, offering international perspectives to our young people who then go to work with them in Asia.

Jeez. This is the first time Ive ever cared about an election, i care passionately about not having Labor come back in and continue this abhorrent waste of money and sensationalist government. Can you imagine Margaret thatcher using such nonsense colloquialism as "Fair go" in her debates "oh we want to give the miners a fair go" the politicians sound like idiots, afraid to show that they can speak and are intelligent because of the constant dumbing down by the media.

Unfortunately according to the polls it looks like Labor is going to get in again. I agree with the earlier poster - 3 more years of this nonsense from Labor and then 10 years of coalition fiscal policy to recover from it.

mohogony

Actually they don't leave their countries by boat,they fly to Indonesia then pay the people smugglers there to take them to Australia, most of the boat people are males becasue they know they can then bring their families over through the family reunion system. Most know how to work the system, have pre prepared fabricated stories to tell, many burn their ID because that would prove they are not real refuguess, many know about all the centrlink benefits and handouts they will get. Its funny how many of the boat people who say they will be killed if they are deported back to their country then end up going back there for holidays once they get permanent residency in Australia

spalen

You seem to know a lot of details about it , are you a people smuggler.