Australian MP Julian Hill has defended the decision by the country’s government to ban transfer commissions for onshore agents at an agency event as it tries to clamp down on the level of student switching in-country.
Speaking at SymplEd in Sydney, Hill reiterated that some international students are not authentic in their requirement to transfer providers, and some providers are not genuine either – and that this heinous practice is “unacceptable”.
He also said that ‘people are selling work visas – you know it, I know it, some agents are not acting in the best interests of students.’
“The commissions, for the quality private providers, are out of control in some parts of the sector – and it’s devastating. The agents who we worry about in that regard are not the people in this board, but the government can’t ignore it,” Hill told delegates.
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The policy changes proposed, Hill defended, are not an “instinctive reaction” to a problem. He said it was related to agents whose avaricious behavior of “selling students” is being seen in the bottom end of the private markets.
“It is an issue because it’s going to drive respectable private businesses that have done a good quality recess product out of business – it is already doing so.”
Hill admitted that some agents would now face a choice and that the bad actors are essentially helping put respectable agents “out of business”.
The International Student Education Agents Association, which helped organize the event in Sydney, represents both on and offshore agents that would be pretended in varying degrees by the proposed changes.
