CORONAVIRUS — INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
380. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. Noting that we do not have a
plan at the moment and the fact that international students in 2018–19
contributed $2 billion to our economy and we currently have 50 000
international students living here in Western Australia, is the government
going to be able to put its mind to it and have a plan as part of the economic
recovery to make sure that we do not lose that market?
Mr M. McGOWAN
replied:
One of the things I did not say as part of my initial answer
was that there is already a large number of international students in Western Australia,
so once the universities get back to full operation, those students will
obviously go back to their study arrangements. That is an income-earning source
for the universities, and considering those students
are here, their spending capacity in our shops, businesses and the like goes on
unabated. Of course, one of the issues is that they cannot have their
families come to visit because we have blocked our borders internationally for
overseas people, and one of the benefits of international students was family
members coming to visit. I do not have a time frame on opening the
international borders, which is essentially what the member was talking about.
I do not have a time frame on international students or international tourists
coming into Western Australia or Australians going overseas for tourism purposes.
We have a pandemic that is killing thousands of people around the world. It has
been managed in various ways in various countries. Some countries have not been
very successful in managing it, and there has been community spread like
wildfire in countries around the world. Clearly, Australia has been, I have to
say, the most successful country in the world in managing it, so the instant
the international borders are opened, we run
the risk of people coming in who could bring in the illness, and I do not think
Australians are ready for that at this point in time. The other states
are putting in place—or talking about it; I do not think they have
agreed to it at this point in time—a trial of international students.
That may mean that some come in—who knows exactly?—but we are
not at the point of committing to that at this time because I want to make sure
that our people are kept safe.