Block on foreign students a body blow for accommodation providers
Australia’s $40bn foreign education sector is ‘devastated’ by Scott Morrison’s refusal to let it quarantine international students.
Australia’s $40bn foreign education sector is “devastated” by Scott Morrison’s refusal to let it begin quarantining thousands of international students in time for classes in 2021.
Leading figures from the sector have warned that Australia’s quarantine regime must be broadened beyond hotels to include other forms of accommodation.
The nation’s two biggest student accommodation providers, Scape and UniLodge, say they have dozens of empty apartment blocks and up to 10,000 ensuite rooms ready to house students.
But on Friday, the Prime Minister said the national cabinet was not convinced there was an alternative to hotel quarantine and that existing caps on international arrivals would stall plans to bring in thousands of foreigners with student visas. “Sadly that will delay any ability to be bringing international students to Australia soon because we must use every available place to get Australians home,” Mr Morrison said.
“I can’t give a commitment to the states that we’d be in a position to allow any broader entry of international students at this time. But we’ll look at it again in several weeks.
“It’s understandable that many are looking to get back before the end of the year, around Christmas and so on. We’re going to keep looking at what the options are … but we haven’t been able to find any viable options that are safe at this time.”
More than 130,000 students with Australian visas are stranded outside the country due to the international border closure and the delay has had a major financial impact on both the property industry and the universities.
Mr Morrison said a number of small pilot programs to bring back postgraduate and honours students would continue. But he stopped short of putting a date on allowing much bigger batches of students to come home.
Scape chief executive Craig Carracher — leader of the nation’s largest student accommodation provider — said he was “devastated” by Mr Morrison’s remarks and that his company alone was able to provide seven accommodation towers to quarantine thousands of students.
“With the reducing border requirements we were told ADF and security controls would be made more available. So I’m a little surprised that the investment is unavailable,” he said.
“We’ve lobbied the Prime Minister, the Education Minister, all the states and territories since February, and we’ve had great detail in our quarantine plans since June. You cannot have a successful quarantine system with hotels alone.
“We have seven whole accommodation buildings ready in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Our buildings — which have from 200 to 700 bedrooms with their own bathrooms — are easier for authorities to secure than hotels because there are single access points and security is already built into all our systems.
“I’m devastated by the Prime Minister’s remarks. He understands the tourism sector, but he doesn’t seem to understand the education sector. I hope that improves and he engages more with our sector.”
UniLodge chief executive Tomas Johnsson also said the sector was far better equipped to control student movements than hotels. “The student accommodation is on standby ... We’ll have between 6000 and 10,000 rooms for the quarantine program,” he said. “We are very aware of what the security expectations are.
“On top of that, we offer far more advanced mental health services in our buildings.”
International Education Association chief executive Phil Honeywood said: “If Australia misses out on its largest overseas intake in first semester in March next year then it will have a devastating impact on a $40bn per year industry.”
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