Labor’s foreign student backflip is a betrayal of Australians seeking secure accommodation and enables a racket that steals more than $10.5 billion a year from the Australian economy.

Labor is increasing the number of foreign students it will allow in Australia in 2026 to a total of 295,000, only months after it introduced legislation to cap numbers at 270,000.

It turns out Labor’s cut to foreign student numbers last year had been a smokescreen to deflect increasing criticism over the housing crisis it had created all by itself.

It was just another Labor lie. While Australian families go homeless and Australian tertiary students drop out in record numbers, Labor’s bringing in record numbers of foreign students.

These numbers are already out of control and beyond Australia’s capacity to sustain. Net foreign student arrivals in the first quarter of 2025 were just shy of 200,000 – up 15% from the same period last year. February 2025 set a new all-time record for net monthly foreign student arrivals.

All of these people are occupying dwellings that should be homes for Australians, and buying real estate with foreign money that should be solely in Australian hands. It’s a backdoor to more out-of-control immigration as they’re allowed to bring family members with them.

Many of these people are taking jobs that should be held by Australians – often for under-the-table cash, which is then sent home. The Institute of Public Affairs showed that foreign students earned $15.4 billion in Australia through part-time work in 2023, with more than $10.5 billion of it being sent back overseas. This puts a huge dent in the claim this ‘industry’ is worth almost $50 billion a year to the national economy.

One Nation’s policy is clear: we must break our universities of their addiction to foreign students and make them prioritise the tertiary education of Australians.

Any foreign student found not to be paying tax should have their visa cancelled, and should be thrown on the next flight back to their home. Foreign students should not be able to run businesses or be issued with ABNs. They are here to be educated and then to go back home, not enriched and accommodated at the expense of the Australian people.

Australian universities are supposed to be not-for-profit institutions. This status enables them to avoid paying tax on the upfront fees foreign students pay them, and to which they have become addicted like meth junkies. Australian taxpayers are being ripped off by the ‘international student’ racket, and One Nation is dedicated to stopping it.