Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited India in March, when he inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to make it simpler for Indians to work and study in Australia.
According to the Mechanism for Mutual Recognition of Qualifications, Australia must recognise Indian vocational and university graduates to be “holding the comparable AQF qualification for the purposes of admission to higher education”.
The MoU also requires Australia to recognise Indian vocational and university graduates to “to be holding comparable Australian qualifications for the purposes of general employment, where such qualifications are required”.
So, in essence, Indian graduates of post secondary education (universities and vocational institutes) will now be permitted to work in Australia on the same terms as local graduates.
It will also be easier to study in Australia.
This is extremely concerning given that India’s postsecondary education system is significantly inferior to Australia’s, with their most prestigious university ranking 415th in the world (and the worst at only 1994th).
According to Bloomberg, India is rife with scam universities and private colleges churning out phoney credentials that will now be allowed to work in Australia under this new MOU.
The Bloomberg report noted that there are “thousands of small private colleges that don’t have regular classes, employ teachers with little training, use outdated curriculums, and offer no practical experience or job placements”.
“Massive billboards with private colleges promising young people degrees and jobs are ubiquitous”.
“Calling such so-called degrees as being worthless would be by far an understatement”, said Anil Sadgopal, a former university dean and government advisor.
Immediately after Anthony Albanese signed the MoU with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, various media stories surfaced warning of widespread visa frauds and scams involving Indian students travelling to Australia for work and residency.
Because of an increase of non-genuine students, at least seven Australian universities have implemented bans or restrictions on students from specific Indian states.
The system has been dubbed a “ponzi scheme” and a “race to the bottom” by Phil Honewood, the CEO of the International Education Association of Australia, the industry’s primary lobbyist.
Honeywood is now advocating for more regulation of education agents and students in order to ensure that only genuine candidates come.
With this sordid background in mind, it was disturbing to read on Wednesday that Prime Minister Albanese had signed the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement with counterpart Narendra Modi aimed at making it easier for students, academics and professionals to live, study and work in each other’s countries.
“This Arrangement will promote the exchange of students, graduates, researchers and business people; expand our people-to-people ties and enhance cooperation in preventing people smuggling”, Albanese said in the joint statement.
The AFR reports that “other features of the agreement include allowing Indians who studied at an Australian tertiary institution to remain here for eight years to work in their field of study, issuing three-month visitor visas to Indians for family or business purposes, issuing business visas of up to five years for Australians to visit India, and creating five-year student visas for both countries”.
Therefore, amid widespread complaints of visa scams and rorting involving Indian students and graduates, Anthony Albanese has carelessly signed migration agreements with India that will ensure a flood of migrants with low-quality or forged credentials.
In turn, young Australians will be priced out of rental housing and jobs by Indians willing to work for considerably lower rates, while capital city infrastructure will strain under the weight of thousands more people.
Why hasn’t Australia’s union movement spoken out against Anthony Albanese’s insane Indian migration agreements, which are a treasonous betrayal of Australian workers?
