Why the government is failing international students during Covid-19 and its likely impacts

Recent articles (Doughney, 2020: Morris, 2020) have documented the major contribution made by international students to the Australian economy. Morris (2020) indicated that in 2019 there were over 750,000 international full fee paying students in Australia, half of them living in rental accommodation and working in low paid jobs in hospitality, retail, food delivery etc. Hurley (2020) indicated that for every $1 of revenue brought by international students, they spent $1.15 in the economy. They also paid taxes, both direct and indirect. Now with the advent of the COVID-19 crisis, international students are being told that if it gets difficult for them, they have the option to go home (Prime Minister Scott Morrison, ABC TV News, 3 April 2020). Many of them have lost their jobs since the temporary demise of large parts of the sectors they worked in due to the introduction of strict government restrictions. Since international students have no access to Centrelink payments, wage subsidies or public health care, their situation could get difficult indeed.