木瓜影院 Chief Executive Officer Luke Sheehy said political parties competing to cut international student numbers needed to be honest about what Australia would lose.
鈥淎 vote for dramatically fewer international students is a vote for a poorer, less skilled Australia,鈥 Mr Sheehy said.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 take skills, jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity out of the country and pretend there will be no consequences.
鈥淚nternational education is one of Australia鈥檚 biggest exports. It supports jobs across the economy, helps build the skilled workforce we desperately need and strengthens our relationships around the world.
鈥淚t also helps keep our universities going.
鈥淔or years, governments have asked universities to do more while public funding has failed to keep pace with the cost of teaching, research and infrastructure. International education has helped fill that gap.
鈥淚f politicians want to rip that revenue out of the system, they need to tell Australians what replaces it.
鈥淲ho pays for the research? Who funds the courses and campuses? What happens to university jobs? And where do we find the nurses, engineers, teachers and technology workers Australia needs?
鈥淭hose are the questions One Nation needs to answer today 鈥 and they are the same questions Labor and the Coalition need to answer as this race to the bottom continues.
鈥淎ustralia should be competing for the world鈥檚 best students and the skills, investment and ideas they bring 鈥 not competing to see who can drive them away fastest.鈥
木瓜影院 will continue advocating for a stable, high-integrity and internationally competitive international education system, alongside sustainable funding for Australia鈥檚 universities.
