One Nation leader Pauline Hanson vows to gut $55 billion international education sector

Pauline Hanson has vowed to gut Australia’s second-biggest export industry but left out a crucial detail.

Joseph Olbrycht-Palmer
NewsWire
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says she wants to cut international student numbers.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has failed to say how many international students she would deny entry to Australia while vowing to gut the $55bn international education sector.

Senator Hanson says she wants net migration cut down to 130,000 from the current 300,000, but has been unable to say how she would do that since unveiling the policy earlier this year.

International students make up about a third of current net migration and would bear the brunt of cuts, sparking fears that her policy, if realised, would destroy Australia’s second-biggest export.

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“I think the international student industry that’s been set up by the universities is a farce,” Senator Hanson told News24 on Sunday, claiming without proof that people use student visas “as a backdoor to get into the country”.

“Then they bring in their family members or their spouses, and I think it’s about 271,000 that are on in the country now under that category.

“If they want to bring them into the country, then universities must look at accommodation for them, not these people buying accommodation in Australia and taking it up.”

Asked for a number, Senator Hanson said: “I’m not putting a figure on it now.”

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