China Overseas Chinese Network, August 14th. According to a report compiled by Australia.com, according to a pilot proposal put forward by the Australian agricultural and tourism groups, backpackers to Australia may become the first groups to return to Australia under the Australian entry ban. However, Australian universities have no hope for overseas students to return to Australia.
ABC News reported on the 13th that the National Farmers Federation and the backpacker and youth tourism advisory group are drafting a proposal to allow the first 150 backpackers to return to Australia as early as October this year. The proposal, which has not yet been submitted to the government, will allow backpackers from countries with low COVID-19 infection rates to travel to Australia. It is not yet clear how these backpackers will be paid for the quarantine expenses after they go to Australia.
At the same time, the federal government recently approved a similar pilot project in the Northern Territory to allow seasonal workers from Vanuatu to go to Australia. According to the Northern Territory’s plan, farmers will pay 2,500 yuan per worker for quarantine. It is estimated that about 170 workers will arrive in the Northern Territory by the end of August.
However, growers are increasingly worried that under the restrictions on the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the reduction of backpackers makes them wonder how to harvest spring and summer crops. In a recent parliamentary investigation of the backpacker plan, Ben Rogers, spokesperson for the National Farmers Federation, said that the number of backpackers in Australia has dropped from 140,000 in March this year to approximately 80,000 in June. .
At the same time, the hopes of Australian university leaders that international students will return to Australia in the first semester of next year are becoming less and less, which has dealt a major blow to their university’s financial loss stop loss plan.
Queensland University President Deborah Terry said at a recent breakfast seminar that it is "very likely" that Australia will not open its borders to international students until mid-2021.
The President of the University of Sydney, Michael Spence, supported Terry’s view and told his staff in an e-mail that the “safe corridor” program for international students, which is a pilot program for the return of international students, is not expected to start soon. It cannot have a positive impact on the enrollment of international students in 2021. He wrote: "It is increasingly possible that our enrollment rate for international students in the first semester of 2021 will not return to the level before the new crown pneumonia epidemic as we originally hoped." (Gao Jiawen)