RUBY:

Hey Harini. How are you?

HARINI:

I'm good. How are you?

RUBY:

Good, thank you. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate it.

HARINI:

No worries at all. Thank you for this opportunity.

RUBY:

Harini Rathnakumar is 23 years old. She grew up in Sunshine, in Melbourne.

HARINI:

I was born in Sri Lanka as a Tamil Eelam person and I had to flee the genocide that took place in Tamil Eelam and I went to India as a refugee.

RUBY:

In India, Harini lived in a refugee camp. She describes an early childhood marked by fear where going to school was difficult. The fees were exceptionally high and her family struggled to pay. Harini remembers this one day when she was 10 years old. She was hanging around the adults eavesdropping on their conversations and she heard them talking about a place called Australia.

HARINI:

My dad was talking to a neighbour about how it was a better place to live in, how they were welcoming refugees and that our family would be better off there instead of in India. We cannot go back to Sri Lanka and I do believe he mentioned something about free education to the neighbour and that's when I got hooked on. I was like, I wouldn't be a burden to my family at all because my dad couldn't afford to pay the fees. That got into my head and I was very stubborn. When my dad was going to leave, I was like, I am coming with you or I'm going to die. That's what I told him.

To a kid hearing how Australia was a better place and they would treat us better. Our human rights would be upheld. To a kid, that sounds like a wonderful dream.

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RUBY:

And that dream was realised. Harini made it to Australia and went to school.

But what she could never have expected is that a largely unknown feature of our immigration system would stop her from getting the full education she risked her life for.

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones. This is 7am.

Today on the show Harini Rathnakumar, on the promise of life in Australia and why the children of refugees aren’t able to attend university here.

It’s Thursday, September 19.

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RUBY:

Harini, can tell me about your journey to come to Australia with your dad?

HARINI:

It was scary. It was very, very scary. It was almost 17 to 18 days worth of journey on the sea. It was short of a hundred people on that boat. There was a bit at the bottom where they would store fishes, I believe, because there was ice too. And that's where most of the people, kind of, hid away when we had to cross the border. And we all shared this space and everyone was just throwing up, most people couldn't even, like, sit up. It was covered in vomit. But, because my dad was there, I knew I'd be okay. I knew he'd be taking care of me and that's what he did.

RUBY:

And do you remember any of the other people on the boat? Did you talk to them?

HARINI:

I made so many friends because there were so many young kids like me. There was a guy that I became best friends with. He and I love to study, that's what we connected over, and what was funny was that after so many years of being separated we ended up going to the same uni. We reached Cocos Island and the Navy they came and took us to safety. And I was so joyed. I was very, very joyed. I was like, finally we made it.

I was transferred to Adelaide Detention Centre. That was after spending a couple of months in Christmas Island and then they transferred me out. They were like, you're allowed to go live in the community now and my dad chose Melbourne.

RUBY:

Harini and her dad were put on a bridging visa, which is what it sounds like. It’s a temporary visa where the government can decide at any point what it wants to do with you. You stay on it until you’re assessed one way or the other and you can be deported at any time. Many Tamil asylum seekers are stuck in this kind of limbo. They face some of the lowest acceptance rates as refugees. Like the Biloela family, who were only granted permanent visas after a huge campaign to let them stay. Harini and her Dad have been on this type of visa since they arrived in 2013.

HARINI:

I was 11 when I came to Melbourne. I came at night time, my second or third time I've been on a flight. And the city looked so beautiful and I was just so happy to be here. I was put into a primary school right away instead of a language school. I was very proud to be standing there because people had knew about the Tamil genocide that took place and I was glad to know that other people knew, that other people actually cared. I enjoyed going to school at primary school here, I made so many friends and, again, my dad didn't have to pay, so I was thrilled. I was like, oh my god, free education. And I also went to high school here where I finished year 12 in 2020, the year of Covid.

RUBY:

And then you applied for university, can you tell me about that?

HARINI:

I had applied to Vic Uni to study a Bachelor of Biomedical Science to then go on to become a doctor.
My brother has always suffered with this condition affecting his kidneys. And he was always on medication, he was always getting some kind of surgery done. And I thought if I became a doctor then I would be able to provide that care to a little bit more people. So I got my offer letter saying that I was accepted in that degree. I was thrilled. I was thrilled to get that offer. I gave my dad a call. I gave him so much joy by letting him know I was offered a place in Uni.

RUBY:

Coming up after the break, Harini learns what her education will cost her.

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RUBY:

Welcome back. When Harini started applying for universities she was made to do so as an international student. She thought it was strange, given she’d been here since she was a child, but didn’t think too much about it. Harini still remembers the moment she opened that letter from Victoria University telling her that she’s been accepted into Biomedical Science, her first step towards becoming a doctor.

HARINI:

So it said that I was offered a place as an international student, because I've applied as an international student because that's the only way I can apply. The second page had the fee information, the total amount that was expected for us to pay. It said $95,000 and I’m like, I was just sitting there looking at it for a couple of minutes because I didn't believe my eyes at first. I was like, $95,000 for what? And then I sat down, read it over and over again, and I was shocked and I didn't want to break it to my dad that I would have to pay these fees. And then I gave my dad a call. I told him that I wouldn't be able to access HECS. I was heartbroken over why this was and, when I asked my dad why I was being treated differently when I tried to apply for uni, he said, well our case has been rejected and they haven't found us to be genuine refugees, they don't actually want us here. And that broke my heart as like, all this hope that I've saved up, all these dreams that I've built over so many years after coming to this country, broke.

RUBY:

So it sounds like, at some point during the application process, you had realised that you would need to apply as an international student but it wasn't until you got that letter that you realised what that meant and how much money that would cost. Is that right?

HARINI:

Yeah, that's right. Yes. But, my dad was like, I will do whatever to make you study. I'll do whatever to make you a doctor. And I felt like I was placing that burden on him yet again.

What was a happy moment was kind of broken after the, after hearing about the fees.

RUBY:

Harini’s dad scrambled to find the money, working an extra job so that she could start studying.
She completed two and a half years of her degree, with support from her dad and also from her husband, who she married while she was at uni.

HARINI:

I had done two and a half years of my bachelor degree in which I had four months left to graduate. My dad had an injury at work and my husband ended up losing his job around the same time and we couldn't do anything to pay for the uni as well. They had decided to disenroll me because I couldn't pay. So I already owe the uni like $24-25k, and I would need another $24-25k to finish off my bachelor's degree. But, in saying so, I also want to do a Bachelor of Medicine which makes me a doctor. And to do medicine, it's like $77,000 a year. I'm not even able to pay $95,000 for three years, how am I going to pay $77,000 for a year to become a doctor?

I wasn't able to apply for loans at banks because of my visa status and it drove me to depression.
I had to face the harsh reality and the truth that the country didn't want me here. That I don't actually belong anywhere at all. The country I was born in doesn't want me, wants to get rid of me, kill me, and I don't even know what to do. I sought out so many organisations, so many refugee supporters to see if they could help me at all. And my husband did write to so many MPs as well. And all they said was that they could probably get us mental help, but they cannot do anything about my situation or about my education either. It was, it was hard because while the politician that need to care for us, they don't even consider us human beings.

RUBY:

There are more than 10,000 people on bridging visas in Australia and, with year 12 exams and university offers approaching, the young people who were brought to Australia by parents seeking asylum will be faced with this same problem. Pay the extremely high international fees, or forgo the chance to get a tertiary education and the opportunities that brings.

HARINI:

What am I supposed to do with my life in those years? I cannot study, so I'm going to have to work. I am working. I am paying tax. This is what we've been doing for 12 years. We've been paying tax, waiting for this opportunity to get to call Australia our home and to finally be at peace, to have that breath of sigh and know that we finally belong in this country, yet we haven't been given that opportunity.

RUBY:

And so, Harini, what would need to change for you to be able to study at university here like any other student?

HARINI:

The only solution at the moment that we have is that we need our permanent visas. And if we do have our permanent visas, then we'll be able to apply as a domestic student. Which we are, after ten years in this country, we are domestic. This is our home and we should be able to have access to education without worrying about all these fees that's going to literally break our families apart. The boy I told you about, the boy that went to the same uni as me, he came on the same boat as me, he played with me on the boat. He had to flee the same situation, we had to flee the same genocide. He’s got a visa though, so he did end up getting a permanent visa. I came with him and they have treated me so unfairly and said that I'm not a genuine refugee, that I don’t belong here after building a home and a life here. A lot of people have lost their lives waiting this limbo, including one of my friends. He was also trying to study yet, because we can't, he had to go and work. He paid tax. Yet, after waiting in this limbo, he's taken his life.

RUBY:

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that, Harini.

HARINI:

Like, what is this government going to do with us? Like, we've been here. We've been begging. We've been campaigning for our rights. Yet, the government hasn't even looked at us. They haven't given us a reply.

RUBY:

And, Harini, we know that there have been cases where the government has intervened on behalf of people who have been living on bridging visas. I'm thinking of Nades and Priya Murugappan, the Biloela family. Can you tell me your thoughts on that?

HARINI:

I am glad for those families that did end up receiving permanent visas such as the Biloela and the Ballarat family. Priya actually travelled on the same boat with me. And they faced so many struggles, they were almost deported from this country and they were finally able to get their visas after so much fight. I'm happy for them. I'm happy that they get to call this country home. I'm happy they're finally safe and secure in this country. But, in doing so, the government has only looked at one family or a couple of families.

Even though I'm happy for them, why aren't we given the same opportunity? Why are we still being left behind?

RUBY:

Well, Harini, thank you so much for talking to me about all of this today. I really appreciate you speaking with me.

HARINI:

No worries. Thank you.

RUBY:

To find out more about Harini and other students going through this, you can read Denham Sadler’s story in The Saturday Paper. It’s called ‘All my dreams shattered: asylum seekers barred from Australian universities’. It’s available now.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today...

The Albanese government has threatened a double dissolution election if it's unable to pass its housing bills, which have stalled in the senate.

Labor’s Help to Buy scheme was put to a vote in the Senate, but the Greens and the Coalition voted for more time to consider the bill.

The Greens are demanding a phase out of capital gains tax discounts, as well as abolishing negative gearing for landlords with more than one investment property.

And,

Thousands of construction workers in Melbourne and Sydney walked off the job yesterday to protest the government’s decision to force the CFMEU’s construction arm into administration.

The government takeover and appointment of administrators to the CFMEU earlier this year followed allegations of corruption and criminal infiltration of the union.

I’m Ruby Jones, 7am will be back tomorrow.

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