‘Not our fault’: The students having second thoughts about Destination Australia
As populism gains traction and international students become political hot potatoes, the $54 billion university industry is in trouble.
But it’s the rising tide of populism that has most alarmed students.
“When I arrived [in 2022], the situation was a bit more open for international students,” Silva Da Luz said. “Now it seems like it’s a bit more unstable, it feels a bit more insecure.”
“When I came here in 2022, in Brazil we had [former Brazilian president Jair] Bolsonaro, and he was very conservative and very homophobic. So I left Brazil and went to Australia because I think here is not the right place for me. And now I’m here and it’s happening again.”
The Herald spoke to numerous international students for this story, all of whom made allegations of “microaggressions” ranging from rude comments to being spat at. All of the students said the increasingly tense and public migration debate had led to them feeling less welcome or unwelcome in Australia. None of those students wanted to be identified for fear of reprisal from the government or cancellation of their visas.
