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Speaker 1: So we know that international students were one of the

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Speaker 1: losers in the federal budget with rules being tightened as

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Speaker 1: part of an immigration system overhauls. So from July, student

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Speaker 1: visa holders are going to again be restricted to working

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Speaker 1: a maximum of forty eight hours a fortnight after that

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Speaker 1: cap was lifted during COVID times. Now changes are also

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Speaker 1: on the cards around who's going to be allowed to

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Speaker 1: study honor student visa in a bid to prevent people

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Speaker 1: using it as a pathway for permanent residency instead of

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Speaker 1: getting an education. Now joining me on the line is

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Speaker 1: Charles Darwen University's director of Government Relations, Brie Willsmore. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Bree.

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Speaker 2: Hi Katie. Good to be with you, Bree.

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Speaker 1: What impact will these changes have for the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, as you said, one of the one

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Speaker 2: of the changes through the budget was around that hours

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Speaker 2: that international students can work. And we know one of

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Speaker 2: the things that really attracts our international students to Darwin

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Speaker 2: is the ability to work. I think though lots of

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Speaker 2: people knew that this was a temporary measure during COVID,

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Speaker 2: the extra hours that they could work, so we're definitely

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Speaker 2: alive to it. But we're really pleased that the hours

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Speaker 2: have actually been boosted up to about twenty four a

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Speaker 2: week forty eight or fortnight from what they were before COVID.

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Speaker 1: All right, so is that a good change that part?

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Speaker 2: Well, certainly there's slightly more hours students can work now

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Speaker 2: than what they traditionally used to be allowed to work,

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Speaker 2: and I think that's really important. But also students are

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Speaker 2: balancing a lot right, Like they're trying to do their study,

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Speaker 2: they're trying to do that really well as well as

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Speaker 2: work on the side. So we do appreciate this is

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Speaker 2: always going to be a bit of a juggling actress student.

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Speaker 1: We know that those international students as well, they certainly

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Speaker 1: form a huge part of the workforce in a lot

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Speaker 1: of ways for the community. Well, these changes have much

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Speaker 1: of an impact in that sense.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think about Darwin is that international students are

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Speaker 2: really confident that they can get work, but they also

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Speaker 2: need to be able to have enough time and space

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Speaker 2: to fulfill their study obligations. That is the primary purpose

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Speaker 2: for why they're here. So we just kind of acknowledge

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Speaker 2: that that balance or getting that balance right, has been

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Speaker 2: really hard. The hours were a lot higher during COVID

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Speaker 2: and now settling at a slightly higher level is probably

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Speaker 2: overall good for students.

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Speaker 1: So three point seven billion dollars as well was committed

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Speaker 1: over five years under the National Skills Agreement in the budget,

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Speaker 1: providing incentives and also free tap places. Can you explain

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Speaker 1: the detail around that for us?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, So we're really stoked to hear this come

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Speaker 2: through in the budget, Katie.

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Speaker 1: This is.

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Speaker 2: Firstly having kind of a five year approach to funding

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Speaker 2: for the Skills Agreement and look that's between governments. That

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Speaker 2: the good news for us is that there is a

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Speaker 2: new commitment to fee free take and so we've had

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Speaker 2: fee free take places this year at cdu TA, about

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Speaker 2: eight hundred of them and they were fully over subscribed,

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Speaker 2: like within a number of weeks. So that's really good

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Speaker 2: for those students. Obviously to have that training course a

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Speaker 2: bit cheaper is really good for the students, but more broadly,

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Speaker 2: like we know students that study and train here are

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Speaker 2: more likely to work here. So it was kind of

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Speaker 2: good news for cdu T, but also really good news

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Speaker 2: the NT and.

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Speaker 1: Bray what kind of courses will be free?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so that detail will be worked out. We know

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Speaker 2: the fee free taste. Places that have come through this

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Speaker 2: year are in areas where there's lots of job opportunities.

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Speaker 2: So we've got students studying early childhood for instance, or

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Speaker 2: construction pathways, a whole range of things, both for young

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Speaker 2: people and not so young people who are looking to

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Speaker 2: skill and up skills and so that processes We understand

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Speaker 2: it and we'll keep working really productively with the NT

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Speaker 2: government on this. But the NT government will look at

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Speaker 2: what types of skills need, so what types of jobs

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Speaker 2: there are out there in the future and try and

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Speaker 2: encourage particularly young people into those jobs which we support.

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Speaker 2: We sand to support that.

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Speaker 1: Now, Bree, before I let you go, I know that

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Speaker 1: there's quite a bit happening when it comes to charles

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Speaker 1: Dale University City Campus as well. There was some drone

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Speaker 1: footage as I understand it, of the site released earlier

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Speaker 1: this week. How is it all looking? Have you seen?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I mean just you can't ignore it now.

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Speaker 2: As on Cavanagh Street, just kind of across from Walworth there,

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Speaker 2: the building just looked fantastic, had a chance to climb

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Speaker 2: up to what was almost the top. Next month we'll

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Speaker 2: have a major announcement where the building itself is topped off.

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Speaker 2: Like they say that you can really get that look

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Speaker 2: and feel. We just can't wait. It's on track for

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Speaker 2: middle of next year. We can't wait to see it

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Speaker 2: flooded with students and also for the community to enjoy.

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Speaker 1: Well, Brie Willismore, the Charles Darwin University Director of Government Relations,

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for coming on the show.

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Speaker 2: Ah, thanks Katie, thank you.