Mrs. Hayden questions the Premier about the impact of changes to the regional sponsored migration scheme on the international student market. The Premier denies direct involvement and highlights government initiatives to support international education and training in WA.

AnsweredQoN 881Legislative Assembly
Asked
16 October 2019
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS —
REGIONAL SPONSORED MIGRATION SCHEME
881. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Premier:
I refer to the Premier's
question on 7 June 2019 to the commonwealth Minister for Immigration,
Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, and I quote —
Over the last 2 years, there has been
a decline in the number of international students in our state �
Will the Premier now admit that his
changes to the regional sponsored migration scheme have damaged our
international student market over the last two years?

AnswerView source ↗

I did not attend question time in
the federal Parliament and ask a federal minister a question, so I am unaware
of what the member is referring to. But when
it comes to education, I want to say a few things. The first is training. We are dropping the fees. We are righting a wrong of the last government. We are
getting more Western Australians into training. We are getting more Western Australians
trained in courses that will provide good employment opportunities in the
future. That is what this government is doing.
The second point is that today, I addressed a major
conference that is being held right here in Perth this week, the Australian
International Education Conference, with 1 500 delegates from across the
country. Members might know that last year,
we launched the WA International Education Strategy, ''live, learn and
launch''. Rod Jones, the person who established Navitas, is now
heading up StudyPerth. We have invested an additional $4.5 million in the state
budget to work in conjunction with universities to attract students. We have
led delegations overseas. In fact, in my first year as Premier, I took a delegation
to China. We are working cooperatively with international markets in China. We
know that there are policy setting issues across both Western Australia and
other states that need resolution, and we are working cooperatively with the
federal government, in particular Senator Mathias Cormann, who is a very
effective senator, to resolve of some of those issues.

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