In January 2023, Christine Nixon, AO, APM, was appointed to undertake a rapid review into the exploitation of Australia’s visa system. The Nixon Report review unveiled significant gaps and weaknesses in Australia’s visa system, prompting a comprehensive government response to address these concerns.
Federal government agencies have allowed migration agents to keep operating despite repeated warnings about their role in rorting the visa system that is misused by organised crime gangs involved in human trafficking and worker exploitation.
Secret briefings from police and border security officials over the past decade warn that some agents have corrupted Australia’s migration system at the same time as the Home Affairs Department has continued to issue them the required licences.
Undercover recordings taken as part of investigative series Trafficked, by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, 60 Minutes and Stan, show agents operating with impunity as they advise on how to rort the visa system, including by encouraging the use of false documents and fake asylum claims.
One agent, linked to up to 500 visas in recent years, is recorded urging a young woman to move to Australia for sex work by lodging a false education visa application, while also describing a network of Australian education providers set up to exploit the nation’s student visa stream.
The revelations come after the series on Sunday had entered Australia after his release from prison and built an underground sex network that exploits foreign women.
The Nixon Report revealed that under the previous Govt private ‘ghost’ colleges flourished & were being misused by human traffickers to bring people in on student visas
The Nixon Report
Hundreds of vocational colleges face closure with thousands of jobs lost as a result of the government’s migration crackdown and planned international student cap as institutions take the drastic step of banning students from entire continents at high risk of visa refusal. Modelling from private education providers predicts that under the measures, about 150 vocational colleges would close over the next two years, with a further 250 at risk.
Hundreds of vocational and English colleges are at risk of closure, the sector says. The private college sector – which educates about 75 per cent of the country’s vocational students – has been heavily targeted by the government’s crackdown on dodgy providers, as well as its broader strategy to slash migration through reduced international student numbers.
On top of the closure of hundreds of vocational colleges, the peak body for independent education providers also expects a smaller number – less than 20 – of private universities are facing closure.
The Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia chief executive Troy Williams said job losses across the sector were now a daily occurrence and were expected to continue over the coming year.
“These are rough times for quality independent [registered training organisations] and higher education providers that have supported a large number of international students,” he said.
“Neither side of politics offers hope to international students wanting to come to Australia.
The government’s policy settings, and the alternative approach set out by the opposition, will see less international students coming to Australia with the result of reduced employment across the skills training and higher education sectors.
“[We] want the government and opposition to stop playing political football with international education. We need a long-term and cohesive strategy for international education, not a series of short-term decisions based upon political expediency.”
The peak body’s closure projections are based on the impact of the current visa crackdown, current domestic enrolments and the further business pressure likely to be caused by the proposed enrolment caps.
In a recent letter to education agents, private college Acknowledge Education said due to visa approval data it would not accept any new offshore applications from the Philippines, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and every African country. It offers vocational education courses as well as higher education qualifications.
The college, which has campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, joins a growing list of education providers and universities who have started to block applications from certain countries in the face of increased scrutiny on providers who recruit students who want to work instead of study. Private colleges, along with three public universities, comprise the vast majority of the bottom-tier institutions in the government’s “risk rating” system, which determines the ease and speed visas are granted for students at different institutions.
A high rate of visa rejections contributes to a higher risk rating, resulting in universities restricting applications from students deemed a higher risk of visa refusal.
In the current financial year up to April, the Department of Home Affairs issued 40,525 visas for students at vocational colleges, down on 128,000 in the same period last year.
The visa crackdown and student cap are central to Labor’s pledge to slash net annual migration from 528,000 last year to 260,000 by next year, which is largely relying on cutting international student numbers.
Education Minister Jason Clare said international education was a valuable national asset and the government needed to make sure it retained its “social licence”.
“Our reforms will help to set it up for the future, ensure quality and integrity and provide certainty for international education providers,” he said.
Melanie Macfarlane, executive director of the International Student Education Agents Association, said the government’s approach to visa rejections has been chaotic and inconsistent.
“Some VET [vocational education and training] sector private providers literally believe government is trying to force them to all close,” she said.
“There is a sense that government thinks all will be well after the elections and everyone will come flooding back in. However many are looking at other destinations that are freer with their visa systems and work rights.”
Macfarlane said her migration and education business used to send 2000 students per year to Australia, but won’t be sending any for the foreseeable future.
“The restrictions on nationalities seems to be expanding – I’ve heard of refusals for Swedish, French, Spanish, Italian and UK citizens. It seems fairly random, although the majority still are the targeted ones such as India, Nepal and Colombia,” she said.
“The economic repercussions are very concerning as we all know of the value to the wider economy of international students, and we’re all concerned this will push the country into recession.”
