The Nepalese community is one of Australia’s great modern migration success stories.



When I arrived in Australia in 1994, there were very few Nepalese students here, probably less than 100. Today, the Nepalese community has become a significant part of Australia’s workforce, about 250,000, with a labour force participation rate of 85%.



Many started by doing the jobs Australians struggled to fill - cleaning, hospitality, aged care, disability support, nursing and other essential work. They paid taxes, bought homes, started businesses and raised the next generation of Australians, who are now becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, and entrepreneurs.



International education helped create this pipeline. Students arrive as tuition-fee payers, then become workers, taxpayers, consumers and, for some, eventually homeowners, investors and employers.



So dramatically cutting international students risks killing the golden goose.

But perhaps there is a bigger question.

Should Australia be relying on young people from poorer countries to fund our universities and supply our future taxpayers?



Families in countries like Nepal sometimes spend their life savings or borrow heavily to give their children an Australian education and a better future. We cannot welcome their money when we need it and then blame them for housing shortages, congestion and migration when politics changes.



They didn't create the system. Australia did.



Perhaps it is time to stop treating international students as cash cows.

Let’s properly fund Australian universities for Australians. Let’s train our own doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers. Let’s make it easier for young Australians to build careers, buy homes, raise families and become the taxpayers Australia needs.



International students should still be welcome for education, not as an economic dependency or an expensive migration lottery.



Don't blame the golden goose. Fix the system that became dependent on its golden eggs.