CAPA Calls on the Bracks Government to Grant Transport Concession to all University Students

Following the successful anti-discrimination case brought against the NSW government Department of Transport and State Rail, the Administrative Decisions Tribunal found in favour of international students who had been discriminated against under NSW law and denied concession travel on public transport. CAPA endorses and supports the NOT FARE campaign in Victoria to secure concession travel for both domestic and international students and calls on NSW and Victoria to adhere to the ADT's decision.

The NOT FARE Campaign, Friday 28th April, will see students from Victorian university campuses gather on the steps of Flinders Street Station at 1.30pm for a 2pm march to Parliament House of Victoria. The campaign, supported by student associations and international student organisations across Victoria and nationally, demands that domestic, international postgraduate and part-time students studying at Victorian universities be eligible for travel concession cards on Victorian public transport. Currently, only full-time undergraduate local students are able to obtain Victorian concession cards.

NSW and Victoria are the only two states in Australia with such discrimination. In all other Australian states, international students are entitled to the same transport concession fares as Australian students. "Ironically, the two states who deny transport concession to international students also have the largest proportion of international students," says Ms Song Yee Ng, NLC Acting National Convenor. "Even the state governments treat us like cash cows."

The Bracks government must make public transport more affordable to students who rely on it while obtaining their education regardless of their nationality, race or origins.

In an environment in which the commodification of education in a globalised market-place is resulting in the growth of enrolments in institutions overseas, quality, equity, access and affordability are essential components in retaining the attractiveness of studying in Australia for both international and domestic postgraduate students. At a time when federal government funding of higher education institutions is declining, the reliance upon international students to make up the operating deficit of our public institutions is detrimental to all parties.