(AUSTRALIA) — Pauline Hanson proposed tighter rules for international students that would force some to leave Australia before applying for another course, a move that higher education policy expert Professor Andrew Norton of Monash University said could cut rental demand while also draining workers from restaurants, cafés and ride-share services.

Hanson’s plan targets students who change courses or remain in Australia through bridging visas. Under the proposal, they would have to return home before applying for another course.

Hanson said some students are using the system to stay in Australia for work and migration rather than study. “The system is being scammed,” she said.

Norton said the effect would reach well beyond visa processing. “a whole range of industries rely on international students to staff themselves,” he said.

He tied that reliance to sectors that depend on part-time labor, including hospitality, food service and transport-related gig work. If students are forced to leave Australia before changing courses, Norton said, “the population won’t like it when they can’t get an Uber anymore or restaurants start shutting several nights a week because they haven’t got staff.”

The proposal sits inside a broader political push around an international student crackdown and the role overseas students play in the housing market and labor force. Hanson’s argument centers on what she describes as misuse of student visas by people seeking to remain in Australia for reasons other than study.

Norton described the policy mechanism as straightforward. Students who now stay in the country while moving between courses, or while on bridging arrangements, would lose that pathway and have to restart the process from offshore.

That shift would cut two ways. Fewer students in Australia would likely reduce demand for housing, but it would also reduce the supply of workers who fill shifts in businesses that rely on flexible, part-time staff.

Rental pressure has become one of the strongest political arguments behind calls for tighter student visa settings. Hanson’s proposal reflects that pressure by treating a smaller international student population as a way to ease competition for accommodation.

Norton did not dispute that lower student numbers could affect housing demand. His warning focused on what would happen at the same time in the labor market, where international students are already embedded in day-to-day services that many Australians use without much notice.

Restaurants and cafés often depend on workers who can take evening and weekend shifts. Ride-share and delivery services also draw from that pool, particularly students looking for part-time work while enrolled.

Those jobs matter because they sit in sectors where staffing gaps show up quickly. Fewer available drivers can mean longer waits for transport, and fewer available hospitality workers can shorten trading hours or leave venues unable to open every night.

Norton said the policy would also be “very costly” for students themselves. Requiring them to fly home and apply offshore would add travel costs and disrupt study plans at the point when they are trying to move into another course.

That extra expense would likely change demand for education as well. Norton said the rule would reduce total demand for courses at universities and vocational providers.

Universities and vocational institutions depend on enrolments to fill classrooms and courses, and the proposed rule would put a new obstacle in front of students seeking to continue their studies in Australia. A student who might otherwise stay and re-enrol would instead face the cost and uncertainty of leaving the country and applying again from overseas.

The policy’s sharpest effect would fall on those already in transition. Students changing courses or remaining in Australia on bridging visas stand at the center of Hanson’s proposal because they are the group she has identified as most likely to be using the system to extend their stay.

Bridging visas allow people to remain in Australia while their immigration status is resolved or while another application is pending. Hanson’s plan would narrow the room for students to stay on that basis while shifting into a different course.

Norton’s comments place Monash University at the center of the public debate through his role as a higher education policy analyst rather than as a spokesperson for the institution. His argument was not framed around the fortunes of universities alone, but around the knock-on effects across the economy and in daily life.

That view links the education system to sectors that are often discussed separately. International students pay fees and rent housing, but they also take shifts in kitchens, dining rooms, cafés and app-based transport services, which means a visa rule aimed at one problem can produce pressure somewhere else.

Supporters of a stricter approach point to the migration side of the student system. Hanson has cast the issue in those terms, arguing that some students use study as a route to remain in Australia for work and longer-term settlement rather than education.

Norton’s response does not challenge that political framing directly. He focuses instead on the trade-off: tighter rules may reduce housing demand, but they also remove workers from industries that rely on international students to keep operating smoothly.

The cost question runs through both sides of that argument. Students would face direct expense if they had to leave and reapply from abroad, while employers could face indirect costs if labor shortages forced them to cut hours, reduce service or compete harder for staff.

In practical terms, the sectors Norton named are among the most visible to consumers. Australians notice when a local restaurant closes early, when a café cannot open all week, or when a ride takes longer to book.

The proposal also reaches beyond universities to vocational education providers, which Norton said would face weaker demand if students had to interrupt their studies and apply offshore. That matters because the students affected are not limited to one part of the education system.

Hanson’s international student crackdown has therefore produced a debate with two clear pressure points: housing demand on one side, and labor supply in low-margin service sectors on the other. The same students who rent rooms and apartments also staff dining rooms, kitchens and transport apps.

Norton’s warning centered on that overlap. “the population won’t like it when they can’t get an Uber anymore or restaurants start shutting several nights a week because they haven’t got staff,” he said.