SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s economy, facing its first recession in 30 years because of the coronavirus, would suffer if Chinese students heeded a warning from their government to stay away because of racist incidents, Australia’s trade minister said on Wednesday.
International education is Australia’s fourth-largest foreign exchange earner, worth A$38 billion ($26 billion) annually, and more critical to the economy than beef or barley, products hit with Chinese import bans and tariffs last month.
China is Australia’s most important trading partner and sends the most international students, accounting for 37.3% of 442,209 overseas students in higher education in 2019, according to Department of Education data.
On Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Education warned students to reconsider returning to Australia, saying there had been a spate of racist incidents targeting Asians during the coronavirus pandemic. It followed a warning last week for Chinese tourists to avoid Australia.
“We would feel the effect – our universities would, if we saw a downturn in international student numbers,” trade minister Simon Birmingham told media.
Birmingham said it would also be a loss for Chinese students and in the long term “would do nothing to help further the mutual understanding between our two nations”.
On Tuesday, Birmingham said Australia had “zero tolerance” toward racism and had established processes to stamp it out.
Australia’s relations with China have deteriorated in recent years amid accusations that China is meddling in Australia’s affairs and seeking undue influence in the Pacific region.
Ties have been under more strain since Australia called for an international enquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus.
After the enquiry call, Cheng Jingye, China’s ambassador to Australia, said Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities.
China has said the trade actions since then are unrelated to the push for an inquiry.
‘PAWN’
Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, representing Australia’s top universities, told Reuters universities were being dragged into the diplomatic dispute.
“International education is being used as a political pawn,” she said.
Thomson said the Chinese embassy had told her on Tuesday it hadn’t received any reports of students being attacked during the pandemic. She said the embassy had reassured that student travel would not be targeted and she was “concerned and disappointed” about the warning.
About 20,000 Chinese students enrolled at Group of Eight universities are offshore because of coronavirus travel restrictions and studying online, Thomson said.
“We have a strong record of safety across Australia,” she said.
Australia had ranked second only to New Zealand as an attractive place to study because of its handling of the coronavirus, a survey of 400 education agents by Navitas found, she said.
However, there has been domestic criticism that the university sector is too reliant on student fees from one country.
The Audit Office of the New South Wales government found course fees from overseas students, worth A$3.6 billion, made up a third of university revenue in the state in 2019.
At the University of NSW, University of Sydney, and University of Wollongong, income from overseas students, predominantly Chinese, exceeded that from domestic students.
Moody’s Investors Service vice president John Manning said the travel restrictions to stop the coronavirus would limit the impact of China’s warning on universities’ revenue this year.
“In the longer term, with a number of universities ranked amongst the best in the world, we expect Australia’s institutions will remain attractive for international students,” he said.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Robert Birsel)
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick‘s finance minister says the province recorded a surplus of $500.8 million for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Ernie Steeves says the amount — more than 10 times higher than the province’s original $40.3-million budget projection for the 2023-24 fiscal year — was largely the result of a strong economy and population growth.
The report of a big surplus comes as the province prepares for an election campaign, which will officially start on Thursday and end with a vote on Oct. 21.
Steeves says growth of the surplus was fed by revenue from the Harmonized Sales Tax and federal money, especially for health-care funding.
Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs has promised to reduce the HST by two percentage points to 13 per cent if the party is elected to govern next month.
Meanwhile, the province’s net debt, according to the audited consolidated financial statements, has dropped from $12.3 billion in 2022-23 to $11.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year.
Liberal critic René Legacy says having a stronger balance sheet does not eliminate issues in health care, housing and education.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the government is making some changes to mortgage rules to help more Canadians to purchase their first home.
She says the changes will come into force in December and better reflect the housing market.
The price cap for insured mortgages will be boosted for the first time since 2012, moving to $1.5 million from $1 million, to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
On Aug. 1 eligibility for the 30-year amortization was changed to include first-time buyers purchasing a newly-built home.
Justice Minister Arif Virani is also releasing drafts for a bill of rights for renters as well as one for homebuyers, both of which the government promised five months ago.
Virani says the government intends to work with provinces to prevent practices like renovictions, where landowners evict tenants and make minimal renovations and then seek higher rents.
The government touts today’s announced measures as the “boldest mortgage reforms in decades,” and it comes after a year of criticism over high housing costs.
The Liberals have been slumping in the polls for months, including among younger adults who say not being able to afford a house is one of their key concerns.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales rose 1.4 per cent to $71 billion in July, helped by higher sales in the petroleum and coal and chemical product subsectors.
The increase followed a 1.7 per cent decrease in June.
The agency says sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector gained 6.7 per cent to total $8.6 billion in July as most refineries sold more, helped by higher prices and demand.
Chemical product sales rose 5.3 per cent to $5.6 billion in July, boosted by increased sales of pharmaceutical and medicine products.
Sales of wood products fell 4.8 per cent for the month to $2.9 billion, the lowest level since May 2023.
In constant dollar terms, overall manufacturing sales rose 0.9 per cent in July.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
