Poll results show 80 per cent of South Aussies say ‘no’ to flying in international students in September
South Australians have voiced their concerns with a plan to fly in 300 international students next month. An Advertiser poll shows 80 per cent of respondents don’t want the flight to go ahead. VOTE IN OUR POLL
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Adelaide universities to fly in international students
- Latest subscriber-exclusive giveaways, specials and prizes
Most respondents to an Advertiser poll do not want international students to fly back into the state amid fears of a new outbreak of coronavirus.
More than 15,000 people have voted in an Advertiser Facebook poll that asked readers if they supported a plan to fly international students to Adelaide during the pandemic.
Eighty per cent of respondents said they did not back the scheme.
It came after The Advertiser reported that 300 students from Singapore are set to fly into Adelaide in early September as part of a national-first pilot program aimed at reviving the $2 billion education economy.
SA is still on coronavirus alert after a man in his 30s who had been repatriated from India became the state’s latest case on Sunday.
It is understood the final-year students will follow a strict hotel quarantine regime, paid for by the universities or the students themselves.
Safety measures are also expected to include channelling the arriving students through a separate area at Adelaide Airport so they do not interact with the general public.
However, South Australians have taken to The Advertiser’s Facebook page to raise their concerns with the plan.
“Talk about ‘all about money’’ – get ready for 2nd wave of COVID-19 SA. How dare you Premier!!!,” one person wrote.
Another person said “I don’t care where they come from, they can stay where they are”.
“It’s not the right time,” they said.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of South Australian lives nothing.”
While another person was concerned with the potential risks association with overseas travellers.
“Most of our cases of the past few months are people that have come in from overseas so nope sorry it’s a no,” she said.
Others said it was unfair to allow international students into South Australia when Australian citizens stuck overseas are struggling to get home and people living in Victorian and New South Wales border towns are prohibited from entering the state.
“How hypocritical – the SA border is shut to NSW and VIC border communities who are COVID-19-free,” one person said.
“These communities also contribute to the SA economy. Broken Hill residents are 30 minutes from the SA border yet in many cases they are being denied permits for specialist medical care and Adelaide specialists are unable to visit their patients without isolating for two weeks on their return.
“Yet the SA border can miraculously open for international students. What about looking after Aussies first?”
Meanwhile, 20 per cent of poll respondents applauded the plan.
“Do people realise how reliant our education sector and economy (whether we like it or not) is on international students? Bring them back,” one person said.
Another said she felt “absolutely confident that this would be dealt with in the most stringent way possible by our health advisers”.
SA’s public universities support 8500 direct jobs and face a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in foreign student revenue.
Adelaide hosted more than 44,000 students from 130 countries.
