Raghav Motani knew he would be paying $70,000 in student fees for his two-year master’s degree in Australia. He knew about the visa processing fees, insurance policy, health coverage and expensive housing – $800 a fortnight.
But when the University of Technology Sydney’s international student officer heard the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, had compared him and his peers to the “modern version of boat arrivals”, he had some questions.
“Why are you using these words to describe us? What have we done that’s unlawful?” he said. “We’ve not come illegally, we’ve not jumped borders, why are we framed like this? We’re helping the economy, we’re putting a lot of money into it. Protect us.”
Speaking on 2GB on Thursday, Dutton was commenting on a report in the Australian highlighting a surge the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) had experienced in student visa decisions, “most of them from Indian and Chinese students”.
There were 8,204 student visa cases lodged with the tribunal in the year to 31 May, compared with 2,057 in the previous 12 months. Only people already in Australia who have had their temporary visa appealed or rejected can appeal with the tribunal, which costs $3,496.
“I just think when you look at the detail, this is the modern version of the boat arrivals,” Dutton said, using rhetoric reminiscent of the Abbott-led Coalition’s 2013 campaign to “stop the boats”.
“People have found a weakness in the system, they are exploiting the weakness … and ultimately have stayed in Australia or they have extended their stay.”
Weihong Liang, the chair of the NSW International Student Representative Committee, said the “constant targeting” of international students was creating an “unwelcome atmosphere”.
“I’m tired of hearing these negative and divisive comments,” he said. “It seems there’s a growing trend to compete over who can be tougher on international students.
“People will carefully consider their study destinations and choose places that are more welcoming, open and inclusive of diverse cultures.”
The International Education Association of Australia (IEAA)’s CEO, Phil Honeywood, said Dutton’s comparison also failed to acknowledge the Coalition was responsible for creating a loophole during the pandemic that made it easier for non-genuine students to stay in Australia for economic reasons.
“The Morrison government – without any consultation with the international education sector – announced uncapped work rights for supposedly full-time overseas students,” he said.
“Dutton was a key minister in government in the relevant portfolio that was front and centre when non-genuine students were allowed in. This created an influx [of people] … particularly from the subcontinent, who came to Australia to make money rather than to study.”
The policy was reversed by Labor in July last year, capping working hours at 24 a fortnight. But by then, Honeywood said, Australia’s educational reputation had been “compromised”.
He attributed the rise in appeals to a concurrent spike in student visa refusals – part of a federal government crackdown on non-genuine students found in a parliamentary inquiry to use study as a back door for work and permanent residency.
Just 80% of student visas were granted in the year to 31 August, the latest data shows, compared with 95.7% in 2020-2021.
To Honeywood, comparing international students appealing visa decisions with asylum seekers was “palpably wrong”. “The majority of these people were allowed in under the Morrison government on planes,” he said.
“Many months ago Peter Dutton made it clear he wanted to fight an election on migration – and Labor ministers have told me they have little choice.”
A spokesperson for the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said the government “won’t apologise for returning integrity to the international education system”, adding it was “unclear” what Dutton was criticising.
“Is it the AAT that he stacked and we are replacing, or the issues with international education that emerged when he was minister and we have made wholesale reform to fix?” the spokesperson said.
“Clearly Peter Dutton doesn’t think we should be rejecting fraudulent student visa applications – our government won’t apologise for returning integrity to the international education system.”
In July, the federal government more than doubled the international student visa fee to $1,600, after adding tougher visa conditions, stronger English-language tests and more rules for education agents who bring overseas students to Australia.
A month later, the education minster, Jason Clare, announced the commonwealth’s proposed international student cap which would limit student enrolments to 270,000 across the tertiary sector.
Mehreen Faruqi, the Greens’ deputy leader and spokesperson for higher education, said both major parties were launching a bipartisan “attack” on the sector.
“Labor … has made international students the new political footballs in this racist dog-whistling game. Migrants, international students and people of colour will yet again be harmed by this dangerous rhetoric.”
