Key Points
- Reduced working hours for students is coming to effect from this month.
- Due to inflation, rental prices and other basic needs are rising
‘Priyanka’ is a 19-year-old student from India who lives in Melbourne. In recent months housing stress has led her to ‘hot bed’.That means she ‘co-rents’ one bed in a share house with a stranger - and they sleep in it at different times.
Priyanka says they split the monthly rent of $550 between them.Even so, at times she cannot use the bed at all.Priyanka arrived in 2022 and earlier this year worked casual shifts in a warehouse.
Along with other students, she says she was stood down soon after the government announced that work caps would be reinstated.So far, her dream of studying in Australia has not matched reality.
In Melbourne, average rent for two-bedroom apartment in a suburban area is now more than 18-hundred dollars a month.
In Sydney, it’s 36 per cent higher at two-and-a-half thousand dollars a month for the same living space.
Priyanka says she hasn’t told her family back in India how much she is struggling because she feels guilty about the sacrifices they made, to pay for her education in Australia. Priyanka has shared the ‘hot bed’ for several months and says the arrangement is starting to affect her mental health.
Priyanka has sought advice from student advocate Manorani Guy, the founder and president of VicWise, a Victorian Working Group for International Student Employability.
Ms Guy takes a growing number of housing-related calls from international students and is concerned about their ability to pay higher rents as incomes fall.
From July the first, international students would be restricted to 48 hours work per fortnight.Work caps were temporarily removed during the COVID-19 pandemic, to address workforce shortages.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says reinstating the restrictions balances students’ need to support themselves, with having sufficient time to devote to their studies.
CEO of the International Education Association of Australia Phil Honeywood supports the move - but says more affordable student housing is needed.
However, Ms Guy says in this tough economy, work restrictions are being reimposed too soon and fears many international students will take work for cash, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.Priyanka hopes to find a secure job and improve her living conditions. Had she known more about Australia’s living costs, she says she may not have chosen to study here at all. You can listen to the podcast.
Independent news and stories from SBS Audio, connecting you to life in Australia and Telugu-speaking Australians.
