New South Wales has announced a pilot program under which 250 international students will be able to enter Australia per fortnight.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet today announced the plan which will see the students arriving quarantined in specially approved student accommodation. He also announced that the arrivals would be increased to 500 students per fortnight by the end of 2021.
Mr Perrottet clarified that the students arriving would not interfere with the current hotel quarantine program.
“I really hope the system works for us too. We international students are waiting desperately to come to Australia to commence our studies properly,” Said Jitesh Reddu, an Indian student from Haryana who is enrolled in a university in Victoria.
“We will be running this alongside the 3,000 returning Australians that come into our hotel quarantine system every week – well more than any other state.” he said, adding “This won’t impact the number of people returning to NSW on commercial flights.”
Mr Perrottet said there were about 50,000 overseas students who were currently trying to get into NSW.
He said the pilot program had been approved by NSW Health and NSW Police, and its proposal to the federal government had received “strong support back” and would be signed off on in the coming days.
The student quarantine system, including travel costs, accommodation and security, will be financed by the university sector.
Initially, the international students will arrive in NSW on chartered flights in the next six to eight weeks. The program will later be switched to commercial flights.
“I really hope the system works for us too. We international students are waiting desperately to come to Australia to commence our studies properly,” Said Jitesh Reddu, an Indian student from Haryana who is enrolled in a university in Victoria.
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Image: “University of New South Wales (UNSW)” by Restless Journeyman is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
