China have just made our housing crisis worse

More than 40,000 Chinese university students could arrive in Australia in the next few weeks as a result of a Chinese government ban on online studying.

The ban affects all students located in China who are studying university courses online through an Australian university.

China have decreed that they will no longer recognise these online degrees, and have ordered all online students to return to their Australian university campuses immediately. There will be no exceptions allowed.

This was done without any warning, and without consultation with the Australian universities or the Australian government.

The result will be that cashed up Chinese students will put a strain on our rental market, which is already at crisis point. This will be particularly relevant in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

There is not sufficient accommodation on campus to provide for all these students, with a lot of on-campus accommodation having been sold off over the last three years during COVID due to the fact it was sitting empty.

Brisbane, for example, has only a 1% vacancy rate for rentals, with many not able to afford the soaring rental prices that have occurred because of the Reserve Bank interest rate hikes.

With thousands of students now expected to arrive in the city over the next month, rental prices are expected to soar even higher.

The same problems will be experienced in Melbourne, Sydney and other cities.

It is not just the housing which is problematic because of the Chinese government’s mandate on online study.

The universities have set up their 2023 academic year for online study, and it will create difficulties in that their online courses will be underutilised. There is also the problem of finding enough face-to-face lecturers to deal with such an unexpected influx of students.

It is to be hoped that Australian students are not excluded from studies to make way for the Chinese students.

Then, too, there is the problem of getting the students to Australia in the first place. University courses begin in February or March of this year, and processing 40,000 visas in such a short term will be a nightmare.

We are all aware of the problems we had in the past of Chinese students with CCP links putting surveillance on other Chinese students, interfering in student politics and demanding university courses be changed to reflect Chinese government positions on politics and territorial claims.

The Australian government will have difficulties in adequately screening 40,000 student visa applicants in such a short time to ensure that Chinese government agents don’t once again infiltrate our universities.

There is also the problem of transporting such a huge number of people in such a short time, and it is to be seen if the airlines and airports can cope with immigration on such a massive scale.

And of course there is the problem of COVID. Over 500 million Chinese people have contracted the virus in China over the past month, and at least a million have died.

It would seem prudent that all these students be quarantined on arrival in Australia, given that negative COVID tests can easily be bought in China for the right price. Do we have the resources to enforce this quarantine, or are we just going to let them in without quarantine?

This decision by China is extraordinary, given that for the past three years they have proclaimed the advantages of online study. Now they are saying it is not a legitimate form of study.

One can’t help but wonder if there is some form of political agenda by the Chinese government to worsen the housing crisis, put pressure on our universities, create challenges for our transport system and weaken our immigration processes.

Time will tell how we deal with these challenges, but the federal government needs to address this issue quickly.

Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based Social Justice Campaigner, Writer, Teacher and Business Consultant. He has campaigned for social justice in Australia, promoted human rights in China and worked with the homeless in Honolulu. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Education and a degree in Management.