International students have become the new face of Sydney’s disadvantage, according to the Daily Telegraph:
In the eight years since Steve Dickson began his food parcel service in Mt Druitt, he has noticed a new wave of people seeking help…
Pastor Steve Dickson said demand for his church’s weekly food service at Mt Druitt’s Dawson Mall has surged over the past decade…
However, in recent years, Mr Dickson has witnessed a new wave of disadvantage, with international students increasingly reaching out for help with everyday essentials…
“There are a lot of Filipino on student visas that have come to Australia and are struggling,” he said. “Some are really battling to put food on the table and pay their rent.
“They’re coming to Australia to further their education, and most are looking to become permanent residents.
“They have to go through the hoops — study, prove they can work and then apply for a visa, which is longer.
“But in the meantime, they have to work and do these courses, and some of them are finding it hard to get full-time work, so they’re finding it hard”…
Mr Dickson said this group marked a demographic shift for his service..
International students are supposed to come to Australia with enough financial resources to support themselves. However, as we already know, many instead arrive with limited funds for the primary purpose of gaining working rights and later permanent residency.
Indeed, Bob Birrell noted previously that so-called “ghost schools” with limited staff and minimal student attendance have proliferated across Australia, offering cheap business and IT courses that provide minimum accreditation for a skilled visa application:
“It has little to do with the excellence of the education that’s offered here,” he said. “It seems to be effectively selling access to jobs and permanent residence.”
The latest student visa data from the Department of Home Affairs suggests that the situation is worsening, given the explosive growth in students from India and Nepal, whose visa applications granted surged by 53.5% and 47.8% respectively in 2H 2018:
India and Nepal are now the second and third biggest international student source nations, with India quickly catching up with number one placed China:
Students from India and Nepal tend to come to Australia with far lower financial resources than their Chinese counterparts and generally study at second tier universities and private colleges.
Therefore, we should expect to see an increase in international students living in poverty in the future.
