Article: NSW and Victoria defiant on transport concessions for foreign students

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From The Australian click here!

NSW and Victoria defiant on transport concessions for foreign students

NSW and Victoria defiant on transport concessions for foreign students

John Ross
From: The Australian
October 12, 2011 12:00AM

NSW and Victoria remain defiant in refusing to offer public transport concessions to international students, a stand that is contributing to falling enrolments.

Bureaucrats from both states offered spurious counter-arguments and wildly fluctuating cost estimates in resisting federal pressure to extend concession fares to foreign students.

Documents obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information reveal that NSW officials estimated a policy reversal would cost anything from $19 million to $251m, and resisted concessions on the grounds that they could overload transport services and make them less attractive to potential private-sector investors.

They were also concerned that a policy change could force them to overturn the ban on concessions for students with part-time jobs -- costing the state another $44m -- even though they acknowledged this was virtually unenforceable.

Victorian officials dismissed the issue with a curt estimate that international concessions would cost $92m, according to a heavily redacted two-page brief, also obtained under FOI.

The approach of the two states -- the only jurisdictions that ban concessions for overseas students -- has contributed to collapsing enrolments in what was Australia's third-biggest export industry.

Despite promises to consult on the issue while in opposition, Coalition transport ministers in both states have kept the policy of their Labor predecessors -- who went as far as changing anti-discrimination legislation to avoid providing concessions.

Bruce Baird, the former federal Liberal MP who last year reviewed consumer protection laws for foreign students, said the issue had "reverberated" with international students at public forums. "They felt (they) were paying much higher fees and subsidising the education of Australians, yet being discriminated against in terms of transport," Mr Baird said. "Some of them thought there was a racist element to it."

Catherine Nguyen, 20, from Vietnam, a second-year commerce student at the University of Melbourne, said her monthly transport ticket took up a fifth of her living money after rent.

She hadn't factored in full fares before coming to Australia.

"When I'm hanging out with friends, knowing they pay half the fee I have to pay for transportation, it feels discriminatory."

The Council of International Students Australia said transport costs had exacerbated the safety concerns that sparked a crisis in the industry in mid-2009, following violent attacks particularly against Indian students in Melbourne.