‘Stop the class half full, PM’
RICHARD Brown says he’s heartbroken at having to “consolidate” his award-winning English language school because Prime Minister Scott Morrison won’t commit to a date for when overseas students can return.
The director of Browns English Language Schools (Browns ELS) says the continuing uncertainty around when borders will open was “crippling” and affecting his mental health.
“They need to make a firm commitment on a date. Tell us, just tell us. Even if it’s January 2023 at least we will have something to work towards and a date we can tell students when they ask us.”
Instead of offering up a date, the federal government says states and territories must develop their own International Student Arrival Plan.
It must then be endorsed at a federal level before implementation.
Initially, these plans prioritise the return of continuing higher education students to complete their qualifications.
This includes final-year students needing to complete practical placements and higher degree research students. Only limited numbers of students, nominated by their education institution, can return under the approved plan.
The international education sector is a key cog of the Gold Coast economy, contributing $1.7bn a year before Covid hit.
Before the pandemic, Browns ELS taught 1000 students across its Gold Coast and Brisbane campuses and employed more than 100 staff. Many employees had been with the business for a decade, some since it was established
by Mr Brown and his sister in 2003.
“It’s been crippling, not just for me but for the whole industry. We’ve been decimated,” he said.
“Having no job security, no job, it’s been awful.”
Mr Brown said without a border opening date for him to work towards, he was having to consolidate. Mental health wise, he said it had been a struggle.
“Each day I just try to hustle as hard as I can – it’s heartbreaking,” said the father.
“Every day I’m just fighting to push on, waiting and hoping we’ll soon get the date we so desperately need.”
Mr Brown said Australia and the Gold Coast were losing international students to places such as Canada and the US that had started a staggered opening of borders.
He took aim at the governments’ failed attempt to eliminate the virus and its “overcautious approach”.
“We have to learn to live with it and do our best to suppress it because elimination is
not possible,” he said.
Study Gold Coast chief executive Alfred Slogrove said the situation facing Mr Brown and other educators who relied on overseas students was “absolutely heartbreaking”.
“Yes we will lose market share in the short term, but in the long term it will bounce back stronger than ever, now that we’ve put metrics in place as a result of Covid,” he said. “We what need is for people to get vaccinated, that’s our ticket out of this.”