Coronavirus: Foreign students a priority to revive cities, say mayors

Capital city mayors are calling for new foreign students to be urgently allowed into the country.

Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner says the return of foreign students would be key to getting the city’s economy back to health. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Capital city mayors are calling for new foreign students to be ­urgently allowed into the country, saying that international education arrivals are needed to kickstart CBD economies.

NSW, Victoria and South Australia are preparing to present Scott Morrison with plans to take small batches of foreign students to get the education industry back on its feet.

There is growing anxiety over the lack of details from Western Australia and Queensland, which could cost both Labor states thousands of students and billions of dollars in ­investment.

Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner told The Australian the return of foreign students would be key to getting the city’s economy back to health. “International education is one of Brisbane’s top 10 export markets, contributing $3.6bn to the local economy in 2019 … it has been devastating to see Brisbane’s thriving inter­national education sector virtually grind to a halt,” he said.

“Supporting our international students requires an effort that ­expands across all three levels of government and I welcome any changes by the federal government to implement a more flexible process for assessing and renewing student visas.”

Queensland State Development Minister Kate Jones said this week she had started talks with the education sector about how foreign students could safely come into the Sunshine State.

More than 83,000 students with offshore visas are currently not in the country — 20 per cent of all offshore visa holders — and the sector expects 90,000 students who were due to come later this year will now be blocked by the closure of Australia’s borders.

Melbourne lord mayor Sally Capp said she hoped the hotel quarantine system could be used to allow intakes and revive inter­national education — her city’s No 1 export. “There are good tools there — quarantining, the tracing app — which if applied means we can welcome international students safely … we’re also looking at how higher education sectors around the world are dealing with tracing and quarantining,” she said.

Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore called on the national cabinet to make foreign students first priority when slowly opening up Australia. “International students will play a major role in the economic and social future of our city, and I encourage state and federal governments to support the return of these students to our capital cities as a priority,” she said.

Perth, which has not had a lord mayor since 2018 when the city council was suspended, could lose out on a $2bn market after WA Premier Mark McGowan said he would move on foreign students only when the national cabinet did.

WA Opposition Leader Liza Harvey said she would back foreign students starting to come to WA safely and lashed Mr McGowan’s lack of a plan. “It defies belief that the WA Labor government would not be taking this opportunity in a relatively safe part of the world to capture international market share with early and detailed planning,” she said.

“There is an opportunity for international students to land in Perth, spend two weeks holidaying at the spectacular Rottnest Island quarantine zone and then commence their studies … this conceptually could be a substantial part of WA’s economic recovery.”

Adelaide lord mayor Sandy Verschoor said her city was dependent on boosting the influx of students, who make up nearly 25 per cent of the South Australian capital’s population. “We only have a population of 26,000, so the growth of the student population is necessary if we are to grow economically again … these students are jobmakers — it’s four jobs for every student,” she said.

Hobart lord mayor Anna Reynolds pressed the state gov­ern­ment to outline plans to bring students in as the Apple Isle’s capital sought to revive its student-led culture and property boom.