Caps on international students would be likely to have very little effect on housing supply, the Chair of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz told the National Press Club this week.
International students represented just four per cent of renters and many live in designated student housing, or rent spare bedrooms of existing dwellings, Ms Lloyd Hurwitz said.
“It is not the case that international students are crowding out renters in our cities,” Ms Lloyd Hurwitz said.
“That’s just simply not true.”
The comments come at the same time as the Government has tried out new arguments to justify the imposition of international caps. Earlier this week Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite told the AFR that the caps were about quality.
“The caps are really about ensuring quality and integrity in the system moving forward,” he said.
“We heard anecdotal evidence of providers who, particularly in the vocational space, weren’t providing the quality of education that Australians would expect of the system.”
Given the caps are expected to have an intense impact on Australia’s highest-ranked universities, the one certainty in the sector right now is that the Albanese Government is a long way from providing a coherent or credible justification for their rush to jerk away the welcome mat for international students hoping to study here.
How this fits with the ALP’s DNA, given Bob Hawke’s blueprint for Australia to become The Clever Country may also be a question asked by party members, although contemporary polling may trump Labour’s 1980s dream.
