Senate erupts over Greens’ claims student caps ‘a racist dog-whistle’
Daniel Hurst
Over in the Senate, there has been a tense exchange between the Greens and the government over plans to cap international students, with one senator denouncing it as “a racist dog-whistle of a policy”.
The deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, pressed the government to “dump the destructive international student caps bill” and she contended that the legislation was “a blatant attack on international students”. She told the Senate:
Not since Scott Morrison’s disastrous job-ready graduates package have we seen such strong opposition from the sector.
In reply, Murray Watt, representing the education minister, told the Senate the Greens were responsible for making “constant cries for more housing and then constant votes against the initiatives that we take in this chamber to try to deliver more housing”.
Watt said the Labor government “does recognise that we do need to put some caps and put some limits around the level of migration we are seeing to Australia at the moment, in particular through the international education system”. He continued:
We have seen a massive growth in international education over the last couple of years in Australia and that is putting unsustainable pressure on the amount of migration that we are receiving in this country at a time when people are experiencing cost-of-living pressures and very real housing pressures.
Faruqi seized on that comment. In a follow-up question, Faruqi told the Senate:
Minister, you have just confirmed that your international student caps bill is nothing but a racist dog-whistle of a policy, falsely – and you’ve done it again now – falsely conflating international students and the housing crisis and the cost-of-living crisis. You’re punishing international students for the government’s own failures.
That prompted calls for Faruqi to withdraw the comment. Continued in next blog post.
Key events
Now for a rare slice of good news! A missing bushwalker has been safely rescued after becoming lost in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales overnight.
About 6.15pm yesterday, emergency services were called to a track at Carrington Falls following reports the 69-year-old man had lost his way.
About 10pm, local police and the national parks and wildlife service found the man in dense bushland. He was suffering from mild hypothermia and a small abrasion to his face.
The group arrived back at the command post around 1.40am today and the man was treated by an ambulance service on the scene.
Chief inspector Brendan Bernie said it was a timely reminder for bushwalkers to be prepared for any conditions when heading out on a hike.
It’s really important you are equipped with safety equipment, wearing suitable clothing and carrying food and water. Conditions can change quickly and in this case the temperature dropped to around 4 degrees and was raining, proving challenging for all those involved.
ACCC warning ends Google deal with Telstra and Optus
Australia’s two biggest telcos will be restrained from accepting further payments by Google for pre-installing software on their smartphones after a warning from the competition watchdog.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed on Tuesday Google had struck deals with Telstra and Optus, which had been in place since at least 2017.
Under the agreements, the telecommunications firms ensured Google was the default search engine on all Android phones they sold in exchange for a share of Google’s advertising revenue.
The commission warned both companies the deals were potentially anti-competitive and could restrict the use of alternative search services.
But, in a statement, Google said it was “surprised” by the announcement and would continue to work to resolve any issues.
The telco deals were discovered during the watchdog’s investigation into Google’s search services in Australia that stemmed from its digital platform services inquiry.
The ACCC commissioner Liza Carver said Telstra and Optus had both signed court-enforceable undertakings not to sign further contacts with Google over pre-installed or default phone services, or to promote one search service over another.
Previous deals with Telstra and Optus expired on 30 June.
– AAP
With question time at an end, I have to jump on another project, so I will be sadly leaving you a little earlier than usual today.
But don’t worry – you have the wonderful Caitlin Cassidy who will lead you through the afternoon.
I’ll be back early tomorrow morning – which is also the day of the Midwinter ball, so you know there will be vibes, thoughts and feelings.
Until then – take care of you.
Tony Burke takes a dixer and makes the grave mistake of putting the wrong emphasis on the word Callide when referring to the Callide coalmine.
Queenslanders are very particular. It is CAL-lide, not cal-LIDE.
It throws him, because he stumbles, but carries on.
And with that, QT ends.
Two more to go!
Ted O’Brien tries very hard to sound serious about power prices and renewables.
Moving on.
Daniel Hurst
The Labor senator Jenny McAllister said the Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi was “reflecting on the minister and she ought to withdraw it”.
Faruqi confirmed to the Senate president, Sue Lines:
Yes, president, I did say racist dog-whistle of a policy.
Lines reminded senators that they were expected to “clarify without repeating what someone else has found offensive and I would ask you to hold that in your thoughts next time you stand”.
After a back-and-forth about her use of the words “you” and “your” in reference to Murray Watt, Faruqi withdrew that part of the question and rephrased it to refer to the government’s policy. Faruqi told the Senate:
As if the scapegoating wasn’t enough, you have now more than doubled the fees of student visa applications. When will the government stop punching down on international students and start supporting them?
Watt remarked that “you can always rely on the Greens political party to try to bring Australians together”. He said the Greens were “never very far from a wedge motion, never very far from a wedge political statement demanding high standards of everyone else, but going low themselves”.
Watt said the reality was that international education was “a huge Australian asset”, economically, socially and diplomatically, and must be protected. He told the Senate the Albanese government was restoring quality and integrity in international education “after the shonks in the sector were left untouched for the last decade”.
Faruqi then pressed the government to “take real action” on the housing crisis, including capping rents and phasing out unfair tax handouts for property investors.
Watt said the Greens should stop “teaming up with Peter Dutton and the Coalition” to delay or block Labor’s housing legislation.
The government’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, interjected:
Voting with the Coalition over and over again just to make a political point.
Senate erupts over Greens’ claims student caps ‘a racist dog-whistle’
Daniel Hurst
Over in the Senate, there has been a tense exchange between the Greens and the government over plans to cap international students, with one senator denouncing it as “a racist dog-whistle of a policy”.
The deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, pressed the government to “dump the destructive international student caps bill” and she contended that the legislation was “a blatant attack on international students”. She told the Senate:
Not since Scott Morrison’s disastrous job-ready graduates package have we seen such strong opposition from the sector.
In reply, Murray Watt, representing the education minister, told the Senate the Greens were responsible for making “constant cries for more housing and then constant votes against the initiatives that we take in this chamber to try to deliver more housing”.
Watt said the Labor government “does recognise that we do need to put some caps and put some limits around the level of migration we are seeing to Australia at the moment, in particular through the international education system”. He continued:
We have seen a massive growth in international education over the last couple of years in Australia and that is putting unsustainable pressure on the amount of migration that we are receiving in this country at a time when people are experiencing cost-of-living pressures and very real housing pressures.
Faruqi seized on that comment. In a follow-up question, Faruqi told the Senate:
Minister, you have just confirmed that your international student caps bill is nothing but a racist dog-whistle of a policy, falsely – and you’ve done it again now – falsely conflating international students and the housing crisis and the cost-of-living crisis. You’re punishing international students for the government’s own failures.
That prompted calls for Faruqi to withdraw the comment. Continued in next blog post.
PM defends response to housing crisis after another Coalition question
Dan Tehan gets a go at a question:
Does the prime minister agree that his decision to increase migration by a record 547,000 migrants in 2023 has contributed to Labor’s home-grown housing crisis?
Anthony Albanese:
Now what I agree with is that we inherited a system that was broken. We knew it was their system that we inherited, and that’s why three inquiries have indicated that broken system needs repair. And that’s precisely what my government is doing here.
It is the end of an era – because the job is done.
The band is breaking up!
Proud to have set up the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group way back in 2019. This was a remarkable mix of Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum & played a big part in ending the injustice. #AssangeFree #auspol #politas pic.twitter.com/XSYzv6YiR6
— Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) July 2, 2024
Independent asks about National Emergency Medal for NSW flood volunteers
The independent MP for Calare, Andrew Gee, asks:
It was recently announced that emergency responders, volunteers and community workers involved in the February-March 2022 floods in northern NSW and Queensland may now rightly be eligible for the National Emergency Medal.
The central western NSW floods of November 2022 saw extraordinary acts of courage and service across our communities, including the biggest helicopter rescue in Australia’s history at Eugowra. Will you support the National Emergency Medal being extended to those who served with such distinction in that emergency?
Anthony Albanese says he is aware of the issue and asks Clare O’Neil, representing the emergency services minister, Murray Watt (who is in the Senate), to answer:
There is a National Emergency Medal Committee, which actually manages this process on behalf of the commonwealth government. It’s not a decision for ministers about who is able to access this.
There’s quite a lengthy criteria that the National Emergency Medal Committee looks at, which includes the scale and community impact of the disaster.
It looks at things like how many casualties were resulted, how much critical infrastructure was destroyed in the disaster. And so I believe they’ve made an initial decision, which does not account for people in the member’s electorate.
And I’d say from their perspective, this doesn’t diminish any of those efforts that were gone to … at the request of the member, the assistant minister to the prime minister has actually taken a very unusual step of writing to the committee and asking them to give a reconsideration of the matters that the member has raised there.
I can see why he’s raised this matter. I can understand him representing his constituents in that way. We will be very pleased to liaise with the committee and come back to the member when we have a response, and I’d say at any time to the local member and anyone who is experiencing natural disaster in this house, the emergency management minister or myself are always available to meet and talk further about these matters.
