Parliament to debate the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill 2024
15 August 2024
On 13 August 2024, the House of Representatives debated the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment (Quality and Integrity) Bill.
The debate followed a hearing on 6 August 2024 before the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment at which the Law Council provided evidence on provisions of the Bill. In particular, the Law Council focused its submission and evidence before the Senate Committee on observing principles of procedural fairness in the proposed legislation, and with regard for the impact on international students and their migration status when studying in Australia on a visa. Carina Ford, Chair of the Law Council's Federal Dispute Resolution Section Migration Law Committee, and fellow member, Lena Hung noted in their evidence that restrictions on student choice through enrolment caps are antithetical to Australia's current migration settings and are likely to dissuade international students from enrolling in Australian courses. [Link to the hearing: ParlView | Video 2698121 (aph.gov.au) with Law Council witnesses from 15:43:00:00 to 16:10:32:00].
Since the Bill was introduced, the House has agreed to amendments including introducing a sunset clause for Ministerial powers to set enrolment limits, setting of enrolment limits to be done by disallowable instrument rather than by notice, and removing the automatic suspension for an operator in breach of the enrolment limit provisions.
The proposed changes under the Bill, and recommendations from the Law Council's submission, have also garnered broad media attention including an exclusive article published in the Australian on 23 July 2024. A copy of the article can be accessed here.
Last Updated on 22/08/2024