Education Services for Overseas Students

We do want to get rid of the shonks. I completely agree with many speakers that that is not the majority of the providers and it certainly isn't the way I would describe providers in my electorate of Macquarie. In fact, I want to start by talking about what quality looks like, what a quality vocational education and training organisation looking after the educational needs of international students actually looks like. I see it in my community and have known it in my community for many years through the Torrens University Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School. I want to describe this quality, because it's streets away from the sorts of providers that this legislation will focus on. It's the No. 1 ranked hotel school in Oceania, based on the QS world university rankings 2022-23. It offers a world-class education with really practical training and hands-on experience at Leura in the Blue Mountains. It's an undergraduate program. As part of that program, students are required to reside on campus. So they live on campus and all the accommodation, meals and recreational requirements are provided by the school. When it's full, it has about 250 students for a 2½-year program of which 12 months is actually in a paid placement in the industry. This is the other part of overseas students in Australia. In local communities, they can play a really key role in helping to tackle the skills shortage. That's certainly the case in the Blue Mountains tourism industry.

This school has been operating since 1991. Over that time, it has developed very strong relationships with our local hotel sector, predominantly in the accommodation sector. But it also employs its own people. Around 100 staff are employed. I am told around 90 per cent of them are locals who live in the Blue Mountains and, thanks to the hotel school, work in the Blue Mountains. As well, at any time, between 40 and 60 per cent of the local suppliers that are used are sourced in our local region. I wanted to give this picture to show what quality looks like as we discuss this quality and integrity bill.

The Fairmont Resort is the largest hotel resort in the Blue Mountains and, I must add, hosted the Blues ahead of the State of Origin match. It was thanks to being accommodated at the Fairmont Resort that they were able to take in the fresh air of the Blue Mountains and deliver victory. Charlie Young, the general manager of the Fairmont, describes the business's reliance on the students from the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School. He says: 'They employ a lot of people while they're at the campus. They provide them with much-needed real-world experience in multiple departments as part of their curriculum during their required industry placement.' He said, 'Their brand is one of service excellence.' That's what he sees in the students. He points out that finding qualified, engaged, positive and skilled employees is difficult. He's talking about the Blue Mountains, where there is quite a serious skills shortage in our hospitality industry.

I want people to keep in mind that tourism is the prime part of our economic drive up there. We're talking about the Blue Mountains World Heritage area, the Three Sisters and all the bushwalks surrounding it, plus all our amazing local businesses. So tourism is absolutely key to our local economy staying alive and healthy. He says, 'Knowing we have a hospitality school around the corner with students eager to learn and test their skills and knowledge helps to reduce our employment challenges and reduces staff turnover, enabling us to retain qualified, engaged employees.'

I want people to have that picture when we think about this bill and what it aims to achieve. This is the sort of quality provider we want overseas students to experience when they come to Australia. I've been to many functions there over the years and talked to many of the students who take great pride in being able to cater to local events and learn their craft. That's why this legislation is here. It's targeting quality and integrity. We are really committed to lifting the standards across the board.

While my own experiences have informed me of the quality training of overseas students, this piece of legislation does not stand in isolation. It comes from evidence that has been captured by inquiries, like the Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System, or the Nixon review, and the review of the migration system. Both brought urgent integrity issues to our attention. It's also informed by last year's interim report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, called 'Quality and integrity—the quest for sustainable growth': interim report into international education. I'm a member of that committee and have been looking into these issues since we came to government in 2022. There is no doubt that integrity is absolutely essential, but the evidence shows that it is absent in certain circumstances and certain providers. One of the issues this bill addresses is the activities of education agents and the way they interact with providers in Australia.

There's a really important role for international education agents overseas to help students navigate their move from another country to Australia, to help them identify the courses and the institutions that will help them. The reviews, feedback from the sector, and stories from students told us that there is a problem and that there has been collusion and unscrupulous practices between some agents and providers. That is not good enough. That is not the way we want to start the experience for an overseas student coming to Australia. For a start, we know that when students come to Australia and have a good experience, it builds their love of Australia and their relationship with Australia for many years to come. One of the great benefits of having overseas students is that they can experience what it is like to be in Australia. We want that to be a positive experience. We don't want them to go home and, in years to come, when they move into roles of responsibility, not think well of Australia. We really want them to have the best possible experience.

So our response to these concerns is to, in this bill, insert a definition of 'education agent', which is better at capturing their activities. This is about strengthening the fit-and-proper requirement used by regulators to apply increased scrutiny to any cross-ownership of businesses, including those between an education agent and an education provider. There's also a definition of 'education agent commission'. That will really allow for complementary amendments to be made to our National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018 so that we ban commissions from being paid to education agents for onshore student transfers.

These are technical things that will limit the ability for the wrong thing to happen. These are things the sector has asked for and will certainly help address one of the issues that was revealed, which is the poaching of newly arrived students so that they shift from their original course into a cheaper, more limited course from a different provider. And this bill is full of practical things that will ensure better experiences. As well as the fit and-proper considerations, it empowers the Minister for Education to pause applications to register providers or courses for provision to overseas students if issues are raised. And it gives greater access to agent performance data, including information on transfers and completions. Without data, we can't really know what's going on.

Under the bill, providers will have to deliver one or more courses to domestic students in Australia who are not overseas students for consecutive study periods, totalling at least two years, before they deliver courses to overseas students. This is to deter those who are seeking to enter the sector purely for the purpose of facilitating migration outcomes or trafficking people into bonded labour. That is the seriousness of some of the concerns and examples that have been raised.

The bill also prevents education providers from using their business operations as a cover for fraudulent activity. Those who have not delivered courses to overseas students for a period of 12 consecutive months will have their registration automatically cancelled. The bill also allows for providers who are being investigated for serious regulatory offences to be automatically suspended from enrolling new international students.

There are many other elements to this bill, but for me the primary focus and what I'm so pleased to be here supporting is the quality and integrity measures, which mean that when we meet an international student studying in Australia we can be proud, knowing they are getting a quality education and one that is value for them and allows them to return to their home with a set of world-class skills. That's what it should be, and that's what this legislation will help us deliver, as part of a range of measures we have introduced since we've come to government. I commend the bill to the House.