AUSTRALIA BAD NEWS FOR ALL PERMANENT RESIDENTS INCLUDING NEW ZEALAND AS THEY WOULD BE REQUIRED TO PAY FULL TUITION FEES TO STUDY IN UNIVERSITIES EITHER SELF OR FOR THEIR CHILDREN AS SOME STATE ALREADY CHARGE BETWEEN $ 3000 TO $ 5000 PER YEAR FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Australian permanent residents from all countries and New Zealand citizens will pay full fees; an average increase of A$8000 to A$9000 a year. About 6000 New Zealanders are in this category.
There are also fears Kiwi children could soon be charged to attend Australian state schools.
Henry Sherrell, an immigration researcher at the Australian National University, told Radio New Zealand that state governments needed money, and could follow the federal government's lead in looking to Kiwi expats with children at state schools.
Some Australian states charge some skilled foreigners between $3000 and $5000 per child a year to attend public schools, he said.
"It is all about clawing back money to try and fill the deficit. This is a clear case of where international relations have been subjected below trying to fix the budgetary mess. This could easily extend down to state governments as well," Sherrell said.
Sherrell said most Kiwi expats couldn't vote and politicians were aware of that.
Victoria University researcher Paul Hamer, who has a special interest in New Zealanders in Australia, said in 2001 when John Howard imposed restrictions on Kiwi expats he wrote to state premiers seeking to allay fears from the New Zealand government that education and health charges could be next to come in.
"This was a fear not only that New Zealand economists had, that New Zealand officials had, but also something that the Australian officials had raised with New Zealand in 2000 as a likely consequence of the 2001 changes. For that reason it remains a possibility," Hamer told Radio New Zealand.
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