Labor is throwing international students under a Pauline Hanson-driven bus

This article appeared in Crikey on September 22 2026.

International students will no longer be allowed to bring family members to Australia unless they’re pursuing a PhD degree, Immigration Minister Tony Burke announced late last week. Pacific and ASEAN countries will enjoy exemptions, however, meaning students from major source countries such as China and India — supplying 23% and 16% of Australia’s international student cohort so far this year respectively — will be most impacted.

In response to a question on whether the policy was influenced by One Nation’s campaigning on migration, Burke protested, saying the measures were developed “way back in February”. But several commentators have observed that the government appears to be “echoing” some of Pauline Hanson’s talking points, with “some similarities” between Labor and One Nation policy.

The rigour of One Nation’s own proposal regarding international students is as watertight as a sieve. For instance, the party portrays international education as a de facto migration pathway, yet, as Universities Australia reports, more than 80% of international students return home after completing their studies. This figure is even higher for Chinese students; one report puts it at 87%. Research on Chinese international students also points to the importance they attach to acquiring educational, social, cultural and professional capital through overseas study.

By proposing to close off or narrow migration pathways for international students, One Nation’s policy is attacking a feature, not fixing a bug. Australia’s current skilled migration system relies heavily on students becoming skilled workers, and former international students represent a major source of permanent skilled migrants. Historically, the most common pathway for migrants who first came to Australia temporarily has been transitioning from a student visa to a permanent skilled visa.

It’s not just Australia that considers students-turned-migrants as ideal migrants. In Canada, international students are considered attractive potential migrants because they have already demonstrated several things the country values: Canadian education, English/French proficiency, familiarity with Canadian society and, often, Canadian work experience. While emphasising the need to get the intake numbers right, its 2025-27 Immigration Levels Plan continues that policy.

In numerical terms, Chinese students still dominate among international students attending Australian universities. However, in recent years, a trend points to “a decline in identifying Chinese higher education students”, and to a shift in the composition of Australia’s international student population away from China and towards South Asian and other source countries.

Compared to the US and Canada, Australia has unique advantages as a destination. My own interviews with Chinese applicants waiting for visa approvals suggest that Australian universities — while not being able to compete with the reputations of the UK’s Oxbridge and the US’s Ivy League universities — have a safe and relaxed lifestyle. It’s relatively close to China in a similar time zone while still being an English-speaking country, and enjoys unrivalled advantages: clean air and water, a hospitable climate, and a comfortable, liveable environment.

In recent years, Chinese universities have climbed rapidly in global rankings, but the trend of studying abroad remains steady. This is for several reasons, including students’ inability to win a place in top-tier Chinese universities, the perceived need to obtain further degrees to qualify for competitive jobs, parents’ preference for a much less grilling and competitive learning environment for their children, and the sustained allure of having had the experience of living and studying in an English-speaking country.

Chinese students continue to want to study abroad, but fewer are intending to stay. This is due to several factors: China’s economic development and increased standard of living make returning more appealing; returnees are more likely to secure employment that delivers job satisfaction or offers more career possibilities; and many have family-oriented obligations or want to inherit family businesses and assets — especially given that many are the only child in the family.

One Nation claims that international students are contributing to housing demand, but the evidence does not support the claim; even Burke said the housing shortage is “not caused by immigration”. These students, who mostly live in city apartments and shared accommodation near universities, occupy a different segment of the market. They may increase demand for inner-city apartments, but they are not generally competing for the same housing stock as established home-buying families, owner-occupiers and retirees.

In Universities Australia’s 2026 submission to the Productivity Commission, it stated that international students account for roughly 6% of Australia’s rental market, with around 40% living outside the general rental market, including purpose-built student accommodation, university accommodation and homestays. “Blaming international students for a housing crisis decades in the making might make for a convenient headline, but it will not build a single additional home,” it said.

Among all the groups that One Nation attacks, international students are the lowest-hanging fruit. They are, in the language of America’s immigration regime, “aliens”, and mostly have the “wrong” skin colour and speak different languages at home — things that Hanson believes would further dilute her desire for a monocultural Australia.

International students are here to drain our resources, burden our infrastructure and contribute to our housing shortage, the One Nation senator believes. Worse still, we are told that once they finish their study, they’re here to stay as pesky migrants who will insist on reminding you that they are rights-bearing citizens. Pauline Hanson wants them to live in your mind, rent free.

Tony Burke’s immigration plan makes one thing clear: to cut through the noise created by One Nation’s immigration policy, the question is not just to ask how Pauline Hanson’s immigration policy would damage Australia’s economy and productivity, but also how her party’s agenda is reshaping the immigration debate itself.

Early this week, a senior Shanghai-based researcher on international relations, now visiting Australia, asked me: “We’re getting mixed messages about Australia’s policy regarding international students — do you want them or not? Should we advise Chinese students to consider going to other countries instead?”

A good question indeed, and one that Minister Burke’s address did little to answer.