Opinion: Students don't take they are net givers
The following opinion piece by Professor Geoff Lee, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Western Sydney & External Engagement, was first published in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, 20 May 2025.
Australians resoundingly rejected the Coalition’s key election proposal to slash net overseas migration, specifically targeting foreign students and temporary skilled workers.
The politics of division does not work in multicultural Australia, and it was particularly rejected in Western Sydney.
Housing is an issue the government must urgently address, but let’s be clear – overseas students are not the reason housing is unaffordable.
Planning failures, insufficient new builds, a shortage of construction workers and taxation policy settings have created the affordability issue. This is not the fault of students from other countries who seek the quality education Australia’s universities deliver.
Where I live in Parramatta, the median house price over the last year was $1,825,000.
Our students are not coming to Sydney and purchasing almost $2m homes. They’re living in student accommodation, share houses or boarding with family and friends.
Many Western Sydney University students rent a room from existing households, contributing directly to the financial well-being of Australians, and they fill labour shortages in local businesses.
International students make up a small percentage of the total renting population, and research has debunked the myth that they are to blame for rent rises.
According to the Property Council, international students make up only 4 per cent of Australia’s rental market.
When faced with economic headwinds, politicians tend to look for scapegoats. International students have been an easy target.
Let’s stop blaming students for the failures of bureaucrats and politicians, and instead acknowledge what students bring to our economy.
The federal government should prioritise looking after Australia’s $51bn international education sector, our thirdlargest export, which supports more than 250,000 local jobs.
Research shows that every international student adds nearly $30,000 to the economy.
International students enrich our economy and our communities. Let’s start recognising their value.
ENDS
20 May 2025
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