Bill Shorten says he supports Labor’s proposed international student caps, as he criticised the Coalition for blocking the bill.
Earlier this week, the Coalition backflipped on their support of Labor’s bill to introduce caps on international students. This masthead reported yesterday that opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson headlined an event for student visa agents before tanking the migration bill.
Shorten slammed the Coalition’s decision to block the bill on ABC Radio National.
“What they did this week was so oxygen stealing-ly dumb that I need an oxygen tank, but because of what I’ve read in today’s papers, maybe they weren’t dumb, maybe they were just being greedy,” he said.
Shorten said he agreed with the international student caps, saying they were “one of the levers that we have to look at” in managing immigration before making it clear where his allegiance will lie once he leaves politics.
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“The other thing is that higher education policies, which I’ll work on when I join the University of Canberra, I absolutely must make clear to people, including my colleagues, I’ll be working for the university, not for the government.”
Asked if international students had become a scapegoat for the housing crisis, Shorten said, “a little bit”.
“I don’t think it’s all there. I agree with that point. We need more supply. I think you find that international students put some pressure, in some parts, on rental markets,” he said.
“We also do need international students, it’s an important export industry.”
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