International education groups plea for survival strategy

“We were told only one academic year would be affected, now its become two full academic years. The industry will literally be on its knees if we can’t start a third academic year, 2022, with significant returning numbers of international students.”

The Morrison government has repeatedly said Australians must take priority in the hotel quarantine system over non-citizens. There are around 40,000 Australians registered with DFAT wanting to return.

As he announced the lockdown on Friday, Mr Andrews said a “cold, hard discussion” was needed about a “much smaller” arrivals program – one that restricted the return of stranded Australians to those on compassionate grounds – as a way to limit the threat of new strains of COVID-19.

He also abandoned plans to raise Victoria’s weekly cap on international arrivals on Monday from 1120 people to 1310. Caps on international arrivals in a number of states, including NSW, will also return to previous levels on Monday after being cut by half in January following the emergence of the highly-contagious UK strain. Weekly arrivals were capped at 1050 in NSW, 500 in Queensland and 512 in Western Australia for a month, after a national cabinet meeting on January 8.

On February 15, those caps will return to previous levels of 3010 people a week in NSW and 1000 people in Queensland. Western Australia’s cap will remain at 512.

Mr Andrews’ comments set the state on a collision course with the federal government over arrivals’ policy, with Health Minister Greg Hunt rejecting the need for an overhaul of the system.

Mr Honeywood will hold a series of online meetings with Education Minister Alan Tudge, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, Trade Minister Dan Tehan, and Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.

He will be joined by Simon Finn, chief executive of Independent Higher Education Australia, English Australia chief executive Brett Blacker, and Troy Williams chief executive of Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia.

The group will urge the government to extend the coronavirus welfare measure of JobKeeper beyond March for private colleges and English language providers, with many facing financial ruin.

Mr Finn said Australia couldn’t afford to let the industry “wither” while the debate around arrival caps was ongoing.

“We understand the safety of the Australian community has to be paramount for government. What we say is, sustain the industry so that it survives and can recover rapidly when it is safe to do so,” he said.

Mr Honeywood said the group would restate the urgent need for positive messaging from the government encouraging offshore students not to abandon the Australian education system.

“We want the Australian government to say to them ‘we’re hopeful you will be able to return at the end of this year, please stick with Australia in online study for the time being’,” he said.