India urges Australia to sympathetically address students' issues due to travel curbs

Addressing the inaugural India-Australia 2+2 dialogue, Jaishankar said that he had specifically taken up with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne the problems faced by Indian students in Australia and those wishing to go to Australia as well as the Indian origin community that is resident there.

“I urged that the difficulties faced by the students due to travel restrictions be sympathetically addressed as soon as possible,” he said.

He said that the “frustrations and feelings” of students not being able to travel abroad to their study destinations due to travel restrictions “is completely understandable”.

He said he had “discussed the issue in some detail” during the talks with his Australian counterpart during the meeting.

Jaishankar said that the government has been taking up the problem with some other countries as well. “We had initially with the US, we still have some issues with Canada.

“We do want the students of the country and the parents of the students to know that this is something we take as very high priority. And we take it up very, very vigorously with our foreign partners,” he added.

Payne, in her remarks, said that she lives and works in western Sydney and “I am one of the most enthusiastic proponents of welcoming our much- loved Indian students back to the Australian education system, as soon as it is possible for us to do so.”

She said the Covid restrictions “have impacted travel to and from Australia not just for students, but for Australians themselves”.

“There are 60,000 Indian students in Australia. I understand the desire of the students and their families who are not able to be there have."

She said that ministers like herself and Defence Minister Peter Dutton, who was part of the 2+2 dialogue, “are required to comply with the same sort of quarantine restrictions and health requirements as all incoming travellers”.

“Our country is on the way to vaccinating Australians to a level which will give Australia the confidence to begin the sort of reopening that will enable students to return in phase three and then in phase four, a much more opened environment for international travel."

"There is shared desire on both sides to see that travel resumes between our countries as soon as it is safe to do so. I look forward to being one of the people at the airport to welcome the first arrivals of Indian students coming back to Australia," said Payne.

In July, the Indian High Commissioner to Australia Manpreet Vohra held talks with Deakin University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin about the return of international students stranded in India and the resumption of their on-campus education.