Abul Rizvi is a weird guy. He has spent years attacking yours truly and howling “racism” at anybody calling for lower levels of immigration.
Yet when pushed, he often holds basically the same views.
Last week, Rizvi Tweeted Department of Home Affairs data showing that offshore student visa applications hit a record high in May, which he claimed was “unsustainable”:
According to Rizvi, a record 45,784 student visa applications were lodged in the month, with new records set for China, Philippines and Bhutan.
This follows ABS data showing a record 285,600 net student visa arrivals in the year to May:
Abul Rizvi also supported Labor MP Julian Hill’s call for ‘nuclear’ reforms to stop international education providers teaching poor quality courses:
Hill warned of Australia’s student visa being used as a ‘low-rent work visa’, and wants “nuclear” reforms to weed out poor quality vocational educators.
“Our student visa must not be used as a low-rent work visa”, Hill said.
“Most providers do good things but there are a significant minority that are dodgy, selling work visas”.
“What benefit is Australia getting from tens of thousands of international students enrolled in certificates and diplomas in marketing, leadership and business?”, Hill asked.
Hill said “rapacious onshore agents” were “destroying the integrity of the sector” by “bribing and stealing students from universities to low-cost VET providers with kickbacks, discounts and incentives”.
It’s “time to prune the tree to save the tree”, Hill said.
The tsunami of international students are mostly coming from poorer nations like India, Nepal and Bhutan not to study but to work and live.
The situation will likely worsen given the Albanese Government recently signed migration agreements with India that, among other things, grants Indians automatic five year student visas and eight year post study work visas.
In turn, the torrent of international students will continue, young Australians will be priced out of rental housing and jobs by ‘students’ willing to work for considerably lower wages, and capital city infrastructure will strain under the weight of hundreds of thousands more people.
