Will the Prime Minister pick up his phone to call China regarding his racist screw up?
By Darrell Egan
With every problem the Morrison government encounters the Prime Minister will reply that he does not hold the item relating to the probe.
Regarding the issue of international students from China confidence in Australia when the Morrison government decides to implement their vaccine passport and allow international students back, it has to be asked will Morrison say; “I do not hold a phone mate.”
Universities Australia have projected Australia will lose $16 billion out of the university sector alone by 2023 due to COVID.
This does not account for what international students bring into our hospitality and tourism sectors. With Chinese international students making up over 30 per cent of Australia’s international student intake this is a large chunk to go missing from our international student sector.
Whilst Scott Morrison may flirt with the idea of an intake of international students from India to fill this void there are some challenges which include India’s COVID numbers, which has reached 3.3 million cases with over 44,000 deaths. With roughly the same population, China’s COVID cases sits just above 95,000 with just above 4,600 deaths. Even if China’s figures were double for the sceptic its is still much lower than India’s.
We also need to look at India’s student visa trust level which is below China has now remained at level 3 since 2019. This level is there for a reason and restricts Indian students to the variety of courses they are permitted to study in Australia.
China sits at level 2 in student visa applications with many students from China returning home for employment and a less risk in flouting student visa rules in relation to overstaying.
Australia still remains a trust issue in regards to many international students from China in relation to the issue of COVID inspired racism.
In early June 2020 there was nearly 400 reported cases of anti-Chinese racist attacks and many unreported.
Anti-China sentiment has not eased and this can be an uneasy environment for international students to study in.
When the Chinese government raised concerns to the federal government regarding vulnerable international students at the time of these almost anti-China 400 racist attacks Scott Morrison branded these concerns as rubbish in response. He went on to respond that Australia will not be bullied in regards to international students.
To an informed observer or a person who does not need an empathy consultant there seems nothing rubbish and bullying about asking for issues of racism to be addressed.
In 2018 when now Trade Minister Simon Birmingham was Education Minister with the Turnbull government there was similar concerns from the Indian government regarding some racist attacks on Indian students.
Rather than a hostile dismissive response, Malcolm Turnbull and Simon Birmingham picked up the phone to the Indian government, then organises trip to India to address the concerns and secure Australia’s International Student confidence.
With Australia’s university sectors facing a projected $16 billion dollar loss by 2023, it is time for Scott Morrison to hold a phone and call to China.
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Fred -
ajogrady -
Andrew J. Smith -
BB
Return to home pageSince he doesn’t hold anything, including rational and truthful thought, I wonder who he gets to help him take a whizz?
If you strip away the monumental corruption and the glaring incompetence of the L/NP you are left with a sinister ideology built on arrogent deception, conceited greed and punctuated by a sneering born to rule attitude that is devoid of morals, standards, values, ethics and empathy.
International education should have been seen as a success story in Australia but both Labor and LNP governments, with legacy media support, have been sucked into (often willingly) to dog whistling students as ‘immigrants’, low on ethics etc.; still happening to this day with international students being blamed for taking jobs from Australians (does not say much for the skills of the latter….).
Before Covid international student numbers were peaking and slowing, includes English, VET/TAFE, University Preparation and Higher Education. Chinese numbers were already softening for reasons cited and more choices elsewhere, more in country tuition (through English), denigrated or blamed for ‘population growth’ and (undefined) ‘immigration’ i.e. the NOM churn over as an environmental (or ‘racial hygiene’?) problem for Australia etc., why bother?
India or the Sub-Continent as a whole started to become more significant in Australia, after the unseemly violence and deaths inflicted upon Indian students in Melbourne 2007/8, whipped up by tabloid media smearing a whole cohort (backgrounded by a ‘tasty’ cricket test series in Oz, shameful to observe normal Australians dribbling at the mouth….). Numbers rose again pre Covid, often due to universities/partners able to accept students and have more streamlined visa processing, but as always there is little if any regulation or compliance assurance onshore beyond paper based audits and many students struggle to get anywhere near professional recognition for PR (although media again suggest that all are eligible…).
Outside of English language sector which has much diversity from all continents, Australian higher education and universities have been unable to attract diverse international fee paying cohorts due to sub-optimal marketing strategies predicated on old commodity models aka AWB etc., short term staff travel while avoiding good digital long term market development in emerging markets; not to forget low awareness of Oz and high fees.
One is always critical of international education sector which complains in private but publicly mute in displaying any support for international students, plus benefits, versus complying with old nativist media narratives for political purposes…. The Gillard government was panicked into making sub-optimal decisions e.g. almost crashing VET/TAFE in favour of ‘high value’ higher education students and then also appointing a Minister for Sustainable Population after an unnoticed (by media/MPs) statistical change expanded the NOM in 2006 (UNPD) hence, spiked population then panic (also to deflect from fossil fuels related).
Anyone in Asia knows of Australia’s white Australia policy past, and suggest that it has never gone away…..
“Will the Prime Minister pick up his phone to call China regarding his racist screw up?”
When pigs fly!