What we learned; Wednesday 20 November
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Here’s a wrap of the main stories:
Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, says Australia is “ready” for a second Trump presidency and he will work closely with the incoming administration;
Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s position on international student caps is “utterly reckless”, the skills and training minister, Andrew Giles, says;
The Victorian government announces it will spend $370m to build a massive solar farm and battery in Horsham, which will be able to power more than 50,000 homes and be wholly state-owned;
Sydney trains will run on Thursday after a small concession from the rail union to delay strike action until Friday;
Crossbench senators are attempting to suspend standing orders in the upper house to force the Albanese government to better resource the procedure office, which helps parliamentarians with drafting legislation and amendments;
Australia’s $50m Cop29 pledge is “nowhere near our fair share”, Greens senator says; and
The share market has snapped its four-day winning streak, retreating from the previous day’s all-time high amid geopolitical jitters after Ukraine fired American-made ballistic missiles into Russia for the first time.
We will be back here with more news tomorrow.
Updated
Visa applications plunge in first quarter of 2024-2025
Visa applications have dropped by 28% for the first quarter of 2024-2025 compared with the same period in 2018-2019, the Department of Home Affairs has revealed, indicating current measures to reduce international student intake is working.
An update on the federal government’s evidence level requirements released on Wednesday suggested there were “encouraging signs” in some offshore markets that the “quality” of foreign student visa applications had been improving, while refusal rates had also increased due to integrity measures to weed out non-genuine students.
From today, student and provider risk ratings have been re-revalued under Ministerial Direction 107 to reward higher education institutions that showed improved performance in recruitment.
As part of the rating, students from India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Columbia, Mongolia and Thailand are considered the highest risk (level 3), while Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Fiji are at a level 2.
Universities have bemoaned the continuation of Ministerial Direction 107, introduced in December last year as a de facto cap to reduce visa approvals among high-risk universities.
The vice-chancellor of La Trobe University, Prof Theo Farrell, released a statement earlier today expressing his “deep disappointment” by the failure of the Senate to pass legislation for international student caps, which was to replace the directive.
Ministerial Direction 107 is a blunt and opaque instrument that has caused financial havoc … it has led to a handful of very large metropolitan universities becoming even larger … At the same time, many smaller universities, mostly in outer metro and regional areas, have suffered catastrophic losses in student numbers.
Updated
