Freelancer tech CEO Matt Barrie has suggested an infrastructure levy could be the best way to offset the strain placed on the Australian economy and society, as well as filter out students genuinely looking for a future as citizens.
Barrie, who leads a major freelance platform with tens of millions of users, alleged that Australia’s international education sector operates like a “Ponzi scheme.”
He said the country is selling visas to international students who, rather than coming to study, are seeking work opportunities.
He also noted that the government currently had a low standard for international students as they only needed proof to show that they could afford to live in Australia.
“I’m not sure how that anyone’s supposed to live on that,” Barrie said at a recent event in Brisbane hosted by the Australian Institute for Progress.
“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 said there were videos on YouTube and TikTok in which international students demonstrated how to get free food out of the Australian system.
“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 International Education Revenue Data
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.”
CEO Says International Students Should Pay Infrastructure Levy
At the same time, Barrie highlighted the strain international students place on Australia’s infrastructure.The CEO explained that students must prove a $29,710 financial capacity to cover rent, food, and education expenses, which is insufficient to address the pressure on state governments to provide essential 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 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.
Australia Caps International Student Number
Barrie’s remarks came as the Labor government implemented a new round of crackdown on the international education sector.On Aug. 27, the government announced that it would cap international student intake at 270,000 in 2025.
The government said the new policy would bring the number of new international student commencements down to pre-pandemic levels.
Education Minister Jason Clare said while there were people exploiting the industry to make a quick buck, the new policy has raised concerns among universities about its potential economic impact.
