China travel ban could be LIFTED for some students despite the risk of coronavirus in Australia
- Australia set to lift the travel ban for a number of Chinese students, despite risks
- The education sector has been hit hard by the travel ban, with $1 billion at stake
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to prioritise Australian health, safety
International students coming to Australia from China could soon have their quarantine restrictions eased despite the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
Since January, anyone coming to Australia from mainland China has been quarantined for 14 days.
The National Security Committee of Cabinet on Thursday extended those restrictions for another week.
The coronavirus has so far killed 2,000 people worldwide and infected another 75,000, including 15 Australians.
China, Australia's biggest trading partner, has lobbied the Australian government to make a quarantine exemption for students who aren't from the Hubei province - the epicentre of the coronavirus.
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International students coming to Australia from China could soon have their quarantine restrictions eased despite the worsening coronavirus outbreak. China, Australia's biggest trading partner, has lobbied the Australian government to make a quarantine exemption for students who aren't from the Hubei province - the epicentre of the coronavirus. Pictured are people in Beijing
With the university semester due to begin in March, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hinted quarantine exemptions could be considered for Chinese students outside Hubei and the city of Wuhan.
'The [medical advice] committee has advised that there are signs the spread of the coronavirus in Chinese provinces outside Hubei province is slowing,' he told The Australian Financial Review.
'We will need to watch closely whether this positive trend continues as people return to work after the holidays.'
Australia's education exports to China are worth $12billion a year, almost as much as coal exports.
Australia's Group of Eight universities, which have 105,000 Chinese students between them, last week estimated the travel ban will cost the economy more than $1billion, jeopardising 7,500 jobs and sparking a 10 per cent decline in Chinese students. Pictured is Nanjing rail station
The economy would suffer if Chinese international students abandoned their studies in Australia.
'One of the other things that we're also looking very carefully at is the mitigations and the things we can do to try and minimise the impact on particular sectors, particularly in the education sector,' Mr Morrison said.
Australia's most elite universities, known as the Group of Eight, have 105,000 Chinese students between them.
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They last week estimated the travel ban would cost the economy more than $1billion, jeopardising 7,500 jobs and sparking a 10 per cent decline in Chinese students.
Western Sydney University told its international students on Wednesday it would subside the cost of airfares and accommodation to allow them to reach Australia 'through a third country' creating a loophole in the ban.
In an email, being circulated online, the university said the $1500 payment would be made after arrival in Australia.
With the university semester due to begin in March, Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) has hinted quarantine exemptions could be considered for Chinese students outside Hubei and the city of Wuhan
Four flights - including one rerouted through New Zealand - have brought home Australians trapped in Wuhan, who were then taken to Christmas Island for a 14-day quarantine.
There were also a number of Australians who were trapped on the cruise ship off of Japan, the Diamond Princess.
They returned to Australia on Thursday aboard a Qantas flight.
Some have now returned home while 170 were taken to Howard Springs, near Darwin, for two weeks of isolation.
