The recent policy of the Vic Liberal Party on Free Public Transport for Students* are misleading. There are no disclaimers and star (similar to that of a commercial advertisement) next to the word ’students’ in TV advert and its own website. If you look closely on its policy which can be found here there are exceptions to the word ’students’:
Masters, PhD, postgraduate and overseas full-fee (emphasis added) paying students would not be eligible for free public transport in Victoria. Students in a tertiary course of less than ten weeks’ duration are also ineligible.
In this post, I won’t dwell on the ineligibility of masters, PhD, postgraduate or part time students (even though i am one of them) but instead on the continuous discrimination that overseas full-fee paying students have to cope in both Victoria and NSW (even though the NSW anti-discrimination board has ruled that the NSW State Govt clearly discriminates against international students).
I have studied in 4 countries (Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and USA) and in three of those countries they have policies that students are students regardless of their place of residence. In fact, if you are an Australian student traveling in Indonesia, flashing your Australian student card (or any other countries’ student card) would instantly qualify you for any student discounts that students are typically entitled for. I have also heard that many countries around the world are the same.
Only in two states in Australia the policy of the State Govt differs. And there are no logical reasons for this:
Myth 1: International Students are not paying tax.
The argument that international are not paying Australian tax is as old as time. First, whether you are paying tax or not are determined not by the effective tax rate you are paying but by the taxation system in Australia. Fair enough, the effective tax rate for most (not all) international students will be 0% due to the tax refund as they will probably earn below the minimum tax threshold and as such will receive tax refund when the tax return is finally lodged. But so does ordinary australian residences who earn below the threshold or might have other tax credits that offset their taxes payables to the extent that their effective tax rate is zero.
So the only argument that the govt can make is whether international students are tax payers or not? And surprise surprise…international students are residence of Australia for taxation purposes! (source: Australian Taxation Office).
The premise of a tax-payer is not whether you pay above 0% effective tax rate but rather whether you will be taxable by the govt on any income earned. Clearly, international students in Australia are tax payers!
Myth 2: International students are rich and they do not need free transport.
A bit of digression here, the Vic lib govt is no longer advocating for concession but free transport for students which international students are not eligible for. So not only that international students dont get concession when their australian mates do, but international students will still be not eligible for concession (let alone free transport) when their australian mates will be eligible for FREE transport.
Anyway, labeling International students as rich and do not need free transport contain two logical fallacies:
1. You are assuming that all of international students are rich. This argument is self-defeating because you cannot argue that all international students are poor. This point is thus moot in itself. In fact, the majority of international students come from families who earn average income back in their home countries. Loans from banks, families, and decades long of savings are the one financing the students. Majority of international students in Australia are from Asian countries and in these countries, education is valued disproportionately. In fact, they are the utmost priorities for most parents. You can say so about other countries, but trust me, a measure of family status back home is by what their children do and do not. Parents live for their children - a significant contrast to most western families where to some extent, children are responsible for themselves when they are coming of age.
2. Rich people do not need free transport.
Perhaps generally yes. But the point is, if senior citizen whether you are rich or not are entitled for concession, why cant this be applied for international students as well when their counterparts are eligible?
Myth 3: If transport concession is given to international students, Australian taxpayers will be subsidising this.
Again, the argument contains many logical fallacies.
1. Public transportation is public goods. You cannot exempt international students for example to use Victorian roads, Victorian parks, and many others.
2. So the only way is to make it private. And the govt already has except it still is responsible for creating and maintaining the ‘discriminatory’ policy that exists currently. If it were to be abolished i see no reason why private firm will not make a concession applicable to ALL students. Can you imagine Village Cinema, Hoyts, Dendi’s, Nova, or many other local cinemas, theaters, and museums saying to international students: Sorry.. you are a student but you are an international student, so you are not eligible for concession price. I cannot begin to imagine the adverse reaction!
The crux of the matter
The real ball thus lies on the govt’s purposeful intent (whoever it is, Labor or Liberal) to continually pursue this discriminatory policy! The basis of this is simply the fact that international students are not eligible voters.
I dont really buy the argument on itself. I strongly believe that if enough pressures are applied to both governments, whether you are a voter or not will not be as relevant as it is now. International student movement has to be smarter in its approach and actually walk the talk.
What can be done?
1. Inform home countries media on this issue.
2. Call for home governments to retaliate against this by also implementing similar policy but only for Australian students who come from Victoria or New South Wales (well that would be fun, wouldnt it? I can imagine the grin on myself when an Australian student from Vic in Singapore was told by ticket inspector: I’m sorry, you are a student, but you are an australian studying in a victorian university).
3. Distribute flyers in the education exhibition showcase by any victorian/nsw universities back home. Make sure that the staff from the govt and universities realise this so they can relay their feedback first hand (btw, universities support the international student movement in championing this cause).
4. Set up ‘fighting fund’ and buy advertising spot in local media next to victorian/nsw university ads alerting the student about the issue and the high transport cost that they will face.
any more suggestions?
btw, current and future student leaders… forget about writing petition and sending postcards… they are repeatedly ‘ignored’. If they dont want to listen to your plight…. force them to listen by shaping the external environment of the debate rather than secretly hoping that they will change their minds one day.
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