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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 380 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 27 May 2020 by Mrs A.K. Hayden

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

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.