Australian Education Minister Dan Tehan tried to assure international students in his country saying that all the international students in his country are part of the Australian community.

Releasing an online message to all the international students on Wednesday, minister Tehan said, “You are our friends, our classmates, our colleagues and members of our community.”

Saying that the impacts of this virus are affecting international students in Australia, he also informed that the Australian government is working with universities and the international education sector to minimize the impact of COVID-19. “That includes finding innovative ways to support our international students,” he wrote.

According to him, international students who have been there longer than a year and who find themselves in financial hardship will be able to access their Australian superannuation.

International students are able to work up to 40 hours per fortnight to manage.

Similarly, those international students working in aged care and as nurses have had the hours extended to support these critical sectors.

Minister Tehan’s assurance comes a week after Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggested the international students to go back to their home countries if they are unable to stay there owing to the worsening situation amid novel coronavirus outbreak.

"Australia must focus on its citizens and its residents to ensure that we can maximise the economic supports that we have," the ABC News Australia quoted Morrison as saying last week.

However, after Tehan’s latest statement, international students have felt a bit of relief at a time when the whole world is battling against this deadly disease and mobility is not preferred.

source: republica, 9 april 2020

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