If you went to an Australian university any time since about the ’90s, chances are international students were paying for your education.

That doesn’t mean you weren’t paying anything. Indeed, there’s every chance you railed against university fees or the size of your student debt. But those international students were paying much more than you were – maybe even three or four times as much – and without them, your debt would have been much larger.

Illustration: Simon Letch

So it is a matter of serious consequence when the federal government decides, as the Albanese government........

© The Sydney Morning Herald