Tech CEO Matt Barrie has suggested international students pay an “infrastructure levy” to help alleviate the strain placed on Australian services.
Barrie, CEO of the world’s largest freelance platform, Freelancer.com, said the move could also filter genuine students keen to study, from those seeking permanent residency.
He noted the government currently had a low standard for international students, as they only need proof they can afford to live in Australia.
“Surprisingly, the government only requires you to provide proof you’ve had $29,710 ($US20,181) and only once, regardless of how many years you'll be studying for, and regardless of how much you really need to live.”
In addition, the CEO pointed to videos on YouTube and TikTok where students were shown how to get free food from Australian donation centres.
“I’m not sure why we’re providing visas for international students who can’t afford to feed themselves,” he said.
“This is not supposed to be an export of a humanitarian program.”
Another point raised by Barrie was that a large portion of international students were enrolled in impractical study programs.
“Of the 787,000 international students, 272,000 are enrolled in vocational programs of VET courses and 79,078 in English [courses],” he said.
“What outcomes would anyone reasonably expect to achieve with an Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Talent from one of a dozen business colleges crammed into a random building?
“Does anyone expect that this qualification will lead to better opportunities when the student returns to Columbia, Nepal, India, or China?”
Barrie also alleged that flooding “fake students” in the country was exacerbating inflation.
CEO Disputes True ‘Value’ of Education Export
According to government data, international education contributed $47.8 billion to the Australian economy in 2023.However, Barrie said this figure was not true.
“The export of education-related travel services is nothing more than a statistical trick,” he said.
He said the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) includes every dollar international students spend, including rent, as an export, even if that money was earned in Australia.
“If education-related travel services really were $48 billion in exports, surely we would at least see it in cash coming into the country each year,” he said.
“When you look at the international remittance volume into Australia in 2023, there was only $2 billion coming in and $10 billion going out.”
Infrastructure Under Strain
At the same time, Barrie highlighted the strain international students place on Australia’s infrastructure.The CEO explained that the $29,710 benchmark for overseas students was insufficient to address the cost of providing new infrastructure and services.
“The combined contribution of these [students] is woefully insufficient to cover the true costs associated with accommodating a huge growth in population, leading state coffers to bear the brunt of the burden,” he said.
“It is an insult to the hardworking taxpayers in each state who are effectively shouldering the burden for the lifestyles of students and many economic migrants while their home quality of life crumbles.”
Barrie said each year, the government spent around $640 billion on defence, education, health, social security, welfare, housing, and other public services.
With a population of 26 million, each Australian had to pay about $24,000 a year per capita for infrastructure, he added.
“How does a student bring in $29,000 to live on, paying for their share of infrastructure, if it costs us $24,000?” Barrie questioned.
“The current arrangement is a perversive version of what a rational, equitable system would look like.
“Instead of hardworking taxpayers in each state subsidising the lifestyles of students and economic migrants. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
As such, Barrie said it was reasonable to levy a substantial infrastructure fee on international students to recoup the true costs they impose upon Australian society.
Federal Government Moves to Cut Student Numbers
Barrie’s remarks came as the Labor government introduced a cap of 270,000 international students from 2025, saying it would bring commencements down to pre-pandemic levels.Education Minister Jason Clare said there were people exploiting the education industry for their own benefit.
Yet the new policy has raised concerns among universities and the Victorian government, dubbed the “education state,” about its potential economic impact.
