Story Topic and Angle:
How Australia’s Rental Crisis is Crippling International Students
The number of international students continues to grow as Australia becomes a global study destination. However, one of the growing challenges facing this group is renting accommodation. From high rents to limited housing options, international students often face difficulties in finding suitable accommodation.
First of all, international students are now facing significant financial hardship due to rising rents in major cities like Sydney and Melbourne. For most international students, this means that in addition to paying high tuition fees, they must also pay high housing costs, and students often have to contend with limited housing supply and rapidly rising rents.
In most Australian cities, when the rental market is tight, international students are often forced to live in communal housing, where due to space constraints students may have to share rooms and may face problems with cleanliness and noise (especially with strangers), which can significantly reduce the quality of life. All of this may further be harmful to their academic performance as well as their physical and mental health.
House safety also cannot be disregarded. Poor student housing, unclear rental agreements, and a high frequency of rental disputes have all been reported in recent years. Unreasonable terms and unjust rental contracts can easily victimize international students, who frequently lack the necessary legal understanding. Therefore, immediate action is needed to address the predicament faced by international students while renting residences. In order to help international students find safe and reasonably priced housing, the Australian government and higher education institutions should give this issue more consideration and implement practical steps to boost the supply of student housing, fight discrimination in rental housing, and offer legal aid services.
Chosen Publication and Target User Group
I plan to publish this commentary on The Conversation Australia. It is a reputable and important media outlet that connects scholars with the general public based on academic research, and its audience includes researchers, academics, and international students facing issues related to the exploration and improvement of housing.
And my main target audience for this COMMENTARY is mainly international students (18-25 years old) studying in Australian universities, young people (under 30 years old) who are concerned about the issue of renting, and relevant policy officials. These groups are all very similar to The Conversation Australia’s audience.
It is hoped that by exploring the challenges of renting housing in depth, it will encourage those involved to reflect on and improve the current situation.
Besides these, The Conversation supports cross-platform distribution of content, which allows articles to be republished by media outlets such as ABC News, SBS, Guardian Australia, etc., and is also suitable for dissemination in tertiary social media, student union channels, and international student support communities, further expanding its reach and interactivity.
Posting this commentary to Twitter is also a good option as it can quickly spread the article to a wider audience. The immediacy and topicality of Twitter, where many Australian universities, education journalists and media organizations are active, makes it an ideal platform for promoting public dialogue and generating interactive discussion.
Reference List
About us | The Conversation. (2015). The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/au/who-we-are?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADjcl3carTH2kthZ38_sY-QH5F_FL&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzYLABhD4ARIsALySuCTai4KzLHURW0jKYUTCvbstHpvjz_JS7uxn17uSY8bfI5YR_BkTW98aAqP1EALw_wcB
Australian Government Department of Education. (2024). International student monthly summary and data tables. Department of Education. https://www.education.gov.au/international-education-data-and-research/international-student-monthly-summary-and-data-tables
Jones, A., & Sadrolodabaee, N. (2025). Are international students to blame for the housing crisis? SBS News. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/are-international-students-to-blame-for-the-housing-crisis/f9q327agx
Kelly, C. (2024, January 29). Australian properties for lease fall to record low as rents soar. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/30/australian-properties-for-lease-record-low-rents-soar-proptrack-report
Lee, N. (2012). Twitter: A World of Immediacy. Springer EBooks, 69–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5308-6_5
Micallef, C. (2025, April 16). Grim trend for millions of Aussie renters. News; news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site. https://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/renting/rent-costs-increasing-across-australia-in-first-quarter-of-2025-new-data-reveals/news-story/42c86f6bd7984b667bc93e85bd9d66c8
STUDENT CAP PLAN WILL DAMAGE ECONOMY WITHOUT FIXING HOUSING CRISIS – Universities Australia. (2025, April 6). Universities Australia. https://universitiesaustralia.edu.au/media-item/student-cap-plan-will-damage-economy-without-fixing-housing-crisis/
Syed, A. (2025, April 5). International students face severe housing stress in Australia. World Socialist Web Site. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/04/05/juzx-a05.html
The Conversation. (2019). Our Audience. Theconversation.com. https://theconversation.com/au/audience
UNSW Human Rights Clinic. (2019). Human Rights Clinic UNSW Law NO PLACE LIKE HOME Addressing Exploitation of International Students in Sydney’s Housing Market EXECUTIVE SUMMARY UNSW Human Rights Clinic I. https://www.law.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/imce/files/UNSW0006-No-Place-Like-Home_Executive-Summary.pdf
Great job but you could briefly describe why you think it is newsworthy to support your proposal. For the news angle, it is still not clear in your writing within this section. You want to focus on international students but also mention government and higher education institutions in this section. As a commentary, you should include information sources e.g. journal articles, news, reports that you will use for commentary writing. Lastly, you have used hyperlinks. However, it could be better if the links could be opened in the new tab. You have used still images as multimedial. However, they should be resized to fit the blog post more proportionately.