International Students

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:09): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding international education.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: In the government media release dated 11 September 2018, entitled 'International students to drive South Australian economy', the minister is reported as saying:

The State Government has already established the Ministerial Advisory Committee for International Education (MACIE) which meets quarterly to facilitate a coordinated approach across education institutions, peak bodies, government and private providers.

My question to the minister is: who is on the Ministerial Advisory Committee for International Education? How much are they being paid? When will the strategy be delivered?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for his question. I am not sure whether he was listening yesterday, but I did speak about the Ministerial Advisory Committee for International Education (MACIE). I said that it had had one meeting, and a second meeting is next week, I think, on 23 October.

An interesting thing about the Labor Party is they want to know how much people are being paid. Actually nobody is being paid. They are actually doing it because they want to do it. There are the three universities, Torrens University, TAFE, SACE, a whole range of private providers and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment. I put that on the record yesterday. They are not being paid. They are doing it because they actually care about the sector and they want to see international student numbers grow, and so does the government. That's why we have given StudyAdelaide extra resources to try to do it.

We want to bring all the stakeholders from across government and from across the sector together, because we recognise it as being an important part of our economy. I think it might have been $1.54 billion that it contributes to our economy. They were hoping that with that growth they might go past wine, but wine had a big uplift this year. I think it is close to $1.8 billion or $1.9 billion now, so international students will have to be comfortable with running quite an unfortunate $300 million or $400 million second to wine.

In regard to the strategy, the minister asked for a time line. We haven't developed a time line for releasing that strategy, but my instruction as minister is that I want it to happen quickly. We don't want to be having 10 meetings and a strategy in three years' time. We want things to happen quickly. We have an appetite in this state to grow our international student numbers. We've got discussions, as members would be well aware, between our two universities: University of Adelaide and University of South Australia. If the merger was to go ahead, they believe that lifts them into the top 100 around the world and the top five in Australia. Once that's established, they believe that could be worth another $100 million in international students just by virtue of the fact that we climb up the ladder into the top 100 and the top five in Australia.

There are some really good opportunities in the adult education sector and even the pre-university level. There is more and more interest from students who come in high school and stay on. I have mentioned him before, but it is interesting just to be reminded of Nicho Teng from Haneco Lighting. He is the developer behind the Westin Hotel at the post office site. He is also involved with the Wirra Wirra development and accommodation down there. He came here as a high school student and studied in South Australia. He went on to university and now is a major investor and a huge friend and great supporter of the South Australian economy.

In answer to the member's question, nobody is being paid. They are doing it because they want to grow the sector. The strategy will be released as soon it is available to be released.