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Speaker 1: Good morning everyone, Good morning Zara, and welcome to the

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Speaker 1: Daily OS. It's Monday morning, the twenty fourth of May.

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Speaker 1: My name is Sam Kazlowski and helping me make sense

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Speaker 1: of today's news is Zara's sideline. Making news today new

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Speaker 1: Phiza doses.

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Speaker 2: Indian repatriation flight, some good news from the UK and

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Speaker 2: a chat about international students. Here's today's daily digest.

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Speaker 1: Zara is now booked in for her COVID nineteen vaccine

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Speaker 1: and I am close to follow and two million doses

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Speaker 1: each week of the COVID nineteen PISA vaccine have been

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Speaker 1: promised by the federal government from the start of October.

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Speaker 1: According to the Australian Medical Association, this does mean that

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Speaker 1: all ossies who want to receive the vaccine could do

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Speaker 1: by the end of the year. Federal Health Minister Greg

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Speaker 1: Hunt has reiterated that people shouldn't wait to get the

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Speaker 1: vaccine and she'll get the jab now, referencing the perceived

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Speaker 1: hesitancy around Astrouzenika in people aged over five.

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Speaker 2: We're finally hearing some better news out of India and

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Speaker 2: the second repatriation flight has now safely landed in Darwin,

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Speaker 2: carrying all one hundred and sixty five Australians on board.

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Speaker 2: No passengers tested positive for COVID nineteen and they were

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Speaker 2: thus all able to board the flight. This comes after

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Speaker 2: seventy two passengers were removed from the first repatriation flight

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Speaker 2: for returning positive results. According to DFAT, there are still

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Speaker 2: approximately eleven thousand Australians trying to return from India amid

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Speaker 2: the second wave.

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Speaker 1: In China. Twenty one people have died in an one

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Speaker 1: hundred kilometer across country race after extremely cold weather conditions

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Speaker 1: came over the Ultra Marathon at midday on Saturday. Hail,

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Speaker 1: freezing rain and gales struck a portion of the race,

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Speaker 1: causing a significant drop in temperature. A landslide then followed

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Speaker 1: the cold conditions, hindering the rescue.

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Speaker 2: Effort and to Monday's good news, the BBC has reported

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Speaker 2: that a teenager Page Hunter has helped save the lives

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Speaker 2: of six people facing a mental health crisis by tying

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Speaker 2: more than forty uplifting notes onto Sunderland's Wearmouth Bridge Police

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Speaker 2: Superintendent Sarah Pick commented that Hunter's efforts were an innovative

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Speaker 2: way to reach out to those in a dark place.

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Speaker 2: If you or anyone you know need support, Please call

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Speaker 2: Lifeline on one three one one four.

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Speaker 1: As more and more countries around the world begin to

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Speaker 1: open up after vaccinating their citizens, the debate is growing

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Speaker 1: around whether Australia is going to allow international students to

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Speaker 1: return to studying on campus in Australia. There is an

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Speaker 1: enormous economic benefit to international students coming to study in Australia.

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Speaker 1: For example, in New South Wales alone, international students inject

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Speaker 1: about fifty billion dollars into the economy, and it's expected

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Speaker 1: that next year that injection will come down to just

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Speaker 1: over twenty billion. But the thing I wanted to talk

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Speaker 1: about was actually the human cost and the human impact

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Speaker 1: of Australia's CLI borders. And the reason I was thinking

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Speaker 1: about it was reading the results of the Council of

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Speaker 1: International Students Australia survey, which was released last week. The

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Speaker 1: survey found that ninety three percent of international students stranded

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Speaker 1: overseas have experienced a significant mental health impact by not

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Speaker 1: being allowed back into Australia to study. It's more than

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Speaker 1: just a practical issue of finishing a degree for a

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Speaker 1: lot of these students. It's about now being expected to

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Speaker 1: study on an online format and feeling isolated from the

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Speaker 1: rest of their class. One in three students surveyed and

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Speaker 1: now considering or have decided to actually abandon their degree

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Speaker 1: in Australia to study in a different country. The thing

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Speaker 1: that I've noticed in this discussion is that online study

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Speaker 1: is being positioned as a key solution to how international

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Speaker 1: students can still contribute economically to Australia. But I think

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Speaker 1: it's time that we have a proper discussion about international

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Speaker 1: students studying online. I remember during my degree when we

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Speaker 1: started to move towards the online classes. Towards the end

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Speaker 1: of my degree, it just wasn't the same. And as

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Speaker 1: I want to sound like my parents here who say

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Speaker 1: that UNI was better in their days, but there's something

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Speaker 1: about being on campus that is a really valuable experience

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Speaker 1: for the development and mental health of students. That's why

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Speaker 1: I wasn't surprised in this survey where only seven percent

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Speaker 1: of international students said they were willing to study purely online.

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Speaker 1: There's a drive to return to campus, and I feel

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Speaker 1: like the debate with international students is largely economic. It's

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Speaker 1: always about numbers. We talked a lot about it with

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Speaker 1: the budget, but I really wanted to bring it back

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Speaker 1: to what's the human impact here.

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Speaker 2: A couple months ago, when Scott Morrison announced a ministerial

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Speaker 2: reshuffle and we saw a new cabinet, I remember that

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Speaker 2: the new Education Minister mentioned that international students were absolutely

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Speaker 2: on the agenda and that he was going to try

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Speaker 2: and get international students into the country as soon as possible.

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Speaker 2: To me, it kind of feels like this has fallen

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Speaker 2: off the agenda, especially when we talk about the vaccine

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Speaker 2: role at not going to plan. So have any solutions

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Speaker 2: been tabled? Is there any discussion within the federal government

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Speaker 2: about how to get these international students back into Australia.

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Speaker 1: Right after the budget, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave

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Speaker 1: an interview on t GiB radio to Ben Fordham, he

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Speaker 1: was asked this question and his response really for me

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Speaker 1: encapsulated where the Federal government is at with international students.

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister Morrison said, they're looking for a solution, but

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Speaker 1: they don't want to undo the good work that has

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Speaker 1: led to Australia being where they are and that's always

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Speaker 1: going to be the tension with this kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: Now we're seeing some state governments put forward ideas to

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Speaker 1: the federal government on how to speed up the arrival

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Speaker 1: of international students, and to return to my earlier point,

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Speaker 1: it is largely based on this economic driver. But if

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Speaker 1: it means that students can return to Australia who are

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Speaker 1: halfway through a degree, then I think everybody will be

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Speaker 1: on board. So the new Southwell's government have put forward

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Speaker 1: a plan where international students would be housed in a

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Speaker 1: section quarantine facility and that's designed to not put extra

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Speaker 1: pressure on the existing hotel quarantine model. They really want

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Speaker 1: to try it for as soon as semester two, which

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Speaker 1: is only in a few months time, with a six

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Speaker 1: hundred bed student accommodation site that is now empty because

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Speaker 1: of the lack of international students. Under the plan, international

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Speaker 1: students would quarantine in the converted accommodation for fourteen days

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Speaker 1: and the number of students would be counted under a

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Speaker 1: separate arrival cap to that which is considered by the

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Speaker 1: federal government.

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Speaker 2: But just quickly here and we've seen the same thing

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Speaker 2: happen in Queensand because Premier Palichet, they're recommended that they

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Speaker 2: could also build a purpose built quarantine center. The federal

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Speaker 2: government does have to ultimately approve these plans because they

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Speaker 2: are the ones that have implemented the Bio Security Act

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Speaker 2: that is restricting people coming into the country, and they

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Speaker 2: are also responsible for any inbound and outbound passenger caps

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Speaker 2: that might be in place. Before we wrap this up,

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Speaker 2: I think that this goes to a really important point

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Speaker 2: that COVID has highlighted more than anything, which is that

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Speaker 2: people aren't exactly clear on what is state jurisdiction and

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Speaker 2: what's federal jurisdiction. And it's often the case that we're

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Speaker 2: seeing all these really big ideas coming from the state government,

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Speaker 2: but ultimately the federal government for a number of reasons,

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Speaker 2: might not be able to accept it or move forward

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Speaker 2: with those plans. So it is a really interesting aspect

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Speaker 2: of our federation that's really been highlighted in the last

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Speaker 2: year or so.

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Speaker 1: And bringing it back to what I said at the beginning,

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Speaker 1: the confusion around how these type of plans get executed

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Speaker 1: directly translates to international students overseas feeling incredibly stressed and frustrated.

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Speaker 1: We have had multiple dms from student services asking us

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Speaker 1: to explain the situation, and when the Council of International

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Speaker 1: Students was asked, what is the question they're getting asked

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Speaker 1: the most, they said it was a really simple one.

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Speaker 1: It is tell us when we can come back, because

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Speaker 1: I can't plan my life or live like this anymore,

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Speaker 1: and that, for me, is what the issue boils down to.

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Speaker 2: All we have time for today, but in the meantime

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Speaker 2: follow us on Instagram at the Daily Os. It's where

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Speaker 2: over one hundred thousand young people get their news every day,

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Speaker 2: and we would love you to become part of the community.

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Speaker 1: It would also mean so much to us if you

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Speaker 1: left a review for this podcast, if it's been something

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