2024-08-30
NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Greens Leader and spokesperson for Higher Education, is urging the Labor government to scrap its international students cap.
The cap of 270,000 new enrolments will hit several NSW universities particularly hard, with thousands of fewer enrolments expected and jobs put under pressure.
Quotes attributable to Senator Mehreen Faruqi:
“Minister Clare’s terrible international students cap, which is migration policy disguised as an education bill, is a direct hit on NSW. It will cost jobs and damage the international reputation of NSW universities.
“Labor’s just done a backflip on the terrible decision not to count LGBTQIA+ people in the census. They should do the same on this bad policy to cap international students.
“Labor is just coming in with a sledgehammer to smash universities to bits.
“The university sector is saying it’s bad policy. State governments are saying it’s bad policy. Just listen and admit this was a terrible mistake.
“We’re in the midst of a cost of living crisis, people are struggling to get by, and Labor’s priorities are dog whistling, targeting international students and playing politics to distract us from their failures. It won’t work.”