Dutton to block Labor bid to restrict international students

Australia’s bid to drive down the number of international students is in jeopardy after the Coalition resolved to block the government’s bill to reduce the universities’ reliance on overseas students. Labor’s proposal to cap the number of foreigners starting their studies next year to 270,000 was announced amid growing political pressure to cut migration as housing and living costs soared. Universities face big cuts to student numbers under the proposed limits.

Credit: Oscar Colman The Coalition is promising larger overall migration cuts than Labor but it is preparing to vote against the caps when the bill is in the Senate this week, according to three opposition sources not authorised to speak before the party formally announcing its position. Universities have been a focus of Labor’s plans to halve net migration from 520,000 in 2023 to 260,000 by June next year, given international students form the largest portion of Australia’s temporary migrants and are the biggest feeder of permanent migration. The federal government is already on track to overshoot next year’s immigration target, in part because international students are staying in the country when they finish their studies.



The contest over student numbers will intensify the political fight over immigration numbers heading into next year’s election, with the Coalition yet to explain how it will achieve its big promised cut to permanent migration. Education Minister Jason Clare. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Education Minister Jason Clare told this masthead the opposition’s looming vote against the bill “will destroy Peter Dutton’s credibility on immigration”.

“Never in my life did I think Peter Dutton would be on a unity ticket with the Greens on immigration,” Clare said. “You can’t talk tough on immigration and vote against a bill to control the number of people coming into the country.” Universities have said the caps would create uncertainty for them given how late in the year the legislation for next year’s caps was due to be voted on.

Some have already taken the unprecedented step of blocking new applications for 2025 as they struggle to plan and foreign students continue arriving. The cap means about 53,000 fewer new overseas students will be accepted in 2025 compared to 2023, a 16 per cent cut, as the federal government responds to political pressure to reduce overall migration numbers. Phil Honeywood, of the International Education Association of Australia, said the Coalition’s move meant the “blunt instrument” of caps would be replaced by the vagaries of ministerial direction, a contentious power that gives preference to certain countries.

Labor introduced Ministerial Direction 107 to slow visa processing and identify non-genuine students. However, it has been extremely unpopular among universities because fewer students from countries such as India, Nepal and Pakistan have been approved for visas and regional institutions have lost enrolments. “By just opposing the caps legislation, the Coalition is not providing our sector with any apparent alternative policy.

We are going to have a dog’s breakfast situation from now until the start of the academic year just only a few months away,” Honeywood said. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter .

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