‘We have 24 buildings available to help with student coronavirus quarantine’, says accommodation industry

The student accommodation industry has 24 empty buildings which could be used to quarantine incoming international students.

Craig Carracher, executive chair of major student accommodation provider Scape Australia.

The multi-billion-dollar student accommodation industry has told federal and state governments it has 24 empty buildings in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra that can boost existing COVID-19 quarantine facilities and return more than 135,000 international students to the country this year.

In a letter to Scott Morrison and state leaders ahead of Friday’s national cabinet meeting, the industry said its student return plan would not affect the return of Australian citizens.

The meeting, attended by the Prime Minister, state premiers and territory chief ministers, is expected to discuss changes to airport arrival caps and quarantine arrangements for incoming passengers.

In a detailed submission sent to government leaders with the letter, the industry says under its plan, students would return to Australia on special charter aircraft, and thus not affect capacity on commercial flights into Australia.

“There is no interference with the return of Australian residents,” said Craig Carracher, executive chair of major student accommodation provider Scape Australia, who orchestrated the plan with other industry players.

On Wednesday, federal Education Minister Alan Tudge said it was up to the states and territories, which are responsible for quarantine, to bring up the matter. “If a state or territory government puts forward a proposal that includes quarantine arrangements above and beyond their existing ones, and they get the tick off from their chief medical officer, then we would look at that,” he said.

“Of course we want to see international students return to Australia, but we need to make sure it’s done safely and without impacting Australians who want to return home.”

The loss of international students because of travel restrictions is expected to cost the international education industry billions of dollars in lost revenue this year, affecting universities, colleges, TAFEs, English schools and businesses such as student accommodation that rely on spending by international students.

The letter to political leaders, backed by all major players in the student accommodation industry, says the international student sector is facing an “existential crisis”.

Mr Carracher said student accommodation providers had originally budgeted for $1.2bn revenue this year, but now had occupancy of only 15 per cent and expected revenue of only about $200m unless students returned in large numbers.

The letter warns that Australia’s major competitors in international education — the US, the UK, Europe and Canada — all currently allow international students to enter, and New Zealand has announced it will accept the return of 1000 students.

“This is eroding Australia’s valuable market share and undermining our competitiveness,” the letter says. It calls on national cabinet to commit to the return of international students “at the earliest possible time” and set an “indicative date” this year for it to happen.

The letter also calls on government leaders to send a positive message to the hundreds of thousands of current and potential students who are blocked from entering the country.

“We need to be sending a message not to give up on Australia in 2021,” Mr Carracher said.

The letter is backed by the International Education Association of Australia, whose chief executive, Phil Honeywood, said all levels of government needed to give the industry-led plan “genuine consideration”.

“The constant passing of responsibility (for international student return) back and forth between different levels of government is not providing any clear way forward,” he said.

Mr Carracher said the plan the industry was putting to governments was a safe solution.

Students would travel together to Australia on a charter flight and, on arrival, would all go to the same student accommodation building and leave as a group two weeks later. The building would then be cleaned over a two-day period before the arrival of the next group.

In each 16 day cycle the 24 buildings could accommodate 6794 students in quarantine and, unlike a typical quarantine hotel, there would not be continuous arrivals and departures creating more opportunities for virus transmission.