Parliament bill passed: denying concession cards to international students

See: http://tex.parliament.vic.gov.au/bin/texhtmlt?form=VicHansard.dumpall&db=hansard91&dodraft=0&house=ASSEMBLY&speech=60458&activity=Second+Reading&title=TRANSPORT+LEGISLATION+AMENDMENT+BILL&date1=20&date2=September&date3=2007&query=true%0A%09and+(+activity+contains+'Second+Reading'+)%0A%09and+(+hdate.hdate_3+=+2007+)%0A%09and+(+hdate.hdate_2+contains+'September'+)%0A%09and+(+hdate.hdate_1+=+20+)%0A%09and+(+house+contains+'ASSEMBLY'+)%0A

Private full-fee-paying international students -- concession travel on public transport

Victoria has a generous public transport concessions program available across the State. In 2006, the government spent over $170 million on concessions for a wide range of public transport users. The program is kept under constant review.
Last year, for example, we announced further concessions for seniors in our community as part of the MOTC statement.
It is, however, critical that resources continue to be carefully targeted especially considering the subsidies which already apply for all users of public transport travel.
Victoria very much welcomes the private full-fee-paying overseas students who choose to study here and we acknowledge their important contribution to the state. However, for sound policy reasons, this government has not considered providing concessions assistance to this particular group of students a priority, and therefore the students do not receive the entitlement. The previous government held the same view.
Providing transport concessions to private full-fee-paying overseas students would be very costly. The money used to pay for extending the scheme to these students would have to come from another area of budget and could impact on other service improvements if the entitlement was granted. In addition, it would be inconsistent with the terms of the students' entry into Australia. When private full-fee-paying overseas students gain a visa to study in Australia, they must demonstrate that they are already fully self-sufficient and able to meet all their living expenses, including public transport expenses, while they are here. The students are required to pay substantial fees to study for their degree and, at the same time, they are also not eligible for benefits such as Medicare, Newstart allowance or Austudy. Unlike Australian citizens, permanent residents and students with refugee status whose intention is to live and work In Australia on an ongoing basis, there is no expectation that private full-fee-paying students will continue to live in Victoria beyond completing their education.
In these circumstances, Victorian taxpayers should not be expected to further subsidise private full-fee-paying overseas students' travel on public transport. New South Wales, like Victoria, does not provide concessions to this group of students and in 2006 it passed special legislation to exclude the entitlement following a finding by the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal under antidiscrimination law in that state.
While the government does not believe the current policy is discriminatory, the purpose of the amendments is to continue the current policy of not providing public transport concessions to private full-fee-paying overseas students. As part of that, the amendments confirm that the policy does not constitute, and has never constituted, discrimination on the basis of race for the purposes of the Equal Opportunity Act 1995. However, the bill expressly preserves the right of the complainant to pursue the argument in a current matter which is before the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.
But the government is otherwise acting through the bill to prevent further complaints and cases being brought or parties or persons being added to the current matter.