International students living in Melbourne today are fighting for their rights and equality to be offered the same privilege as local students by getting Myki concessions.
It is estimated that international students are paying $50 a week which is twice the amount of what local students are paying for public transport.
Myki daily pass costs $7 in zone one, $4.84 in zone two and $11.84 in zone one and two. Concessions costs $3.50 daily in zone one, $2.42 in zone two and $5.92 in zone one and two.
New South Wales and other states in Australia are far ahead of Victoria regarding profits in education industry because they offer public transport discounts to international students.
“Personally I think that all students are equal and should be offered the same privileges or its unfair otherwise. And I am aware that other states in Australia does offer international students concessions, which I find it quite shocking and realize how far behind Victoria is,” said Van Nguyen, a local student at RMIT University.
The Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) have been working on getting myki concessions for international students for years now but their proposal seems to have been ignored all this time.
President of the AMSA Mr. James Churchill said in April 2012 that this situation of the Victorian government not offering public transport concessions to the international students can lead to feelings of marginalization.
Many international students based in Victoria are starting to act on the myki system negatively because they are paying more for University tuition fees than the local students and are still paying more for public transport.
Joyce Yap Weng Yan, a second year Communications student at Melbourne University and also a member of the international students’ club at her Uni mentioned that they are running a project to get international students to sign a form that supports their rights to get myki concessions.
“Currently we already have one thousand signatures and aiming for three thousand, we are also hoping to get some signatures from local students and teachers but right now our goal is to get the international students to sign first,” said Ms. Yep Weng Yan.
