Fair fares for all students!
Demand travel concessions for part-time and international students
About the campaign
In NSW, international students and part-time students are excluded from the transport concession scheme. These students are forced to pay full fare for their transport – double what domestic, full-time students pay.
Part-time students and international students have been fighting for access to the transport concession scheme for decades. Now, with rising rents and outrageous rates of student poverty, students need concessions more than ever.
Member for Newtown Jenny Leong with SUPRA officers and other campaign participants and supporters outside the NSW Parliament on Thursday, 9 March 2024.
Get involved in the campaign
We invite staff and students to join our Transport Campaign Coalition to continue the fight.
If you would like to get involved in the campaign for fair fares, contact SUPRA Education Officer Weihong Liang at education@supra.usyd.edu.au
Sign our latest petition!
SUPRA is once again petitioning the NSW Parliament to extend transport concessions to all international and part-time students.
As a result of our campaign and submission, in October 2024, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) recommended that Transport for NSW should extend transport concessions to international and part-time students.
We are pushing the NSW government to implement this recommendation with a new petition.
Fair Fares campaign in 2025
From 2023 to 2024, the fight for Fair Fares was led by SUPRA and the SRC at the University of Sydney. We tabled a petition with 21,060 signatures in the NSW Parliament and successfully pushed the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) to formally recommend that the State Government extend transport concessions to international students.
In 2025, SUPRA continues to lead the charge, working alongside the NSW International Student Representative Committee (NSW ISRC) and student unions across the state to keep this critical campaign moving forward.
What’s new in 2025:
- IPART’s decision gives us a strong foundation: This year’s campaign is focused on securing a government response to the independent regulator’s clear recommendation. We are calling on Transport for NSW to act on IPART’s recommendation, engage in formal dialogue, and take swift action to extend transport concessions to every student in NSW.
- Statewide student unity: We represent a stronger and more unified student voice across every university in the state with the support of the NSW ISRC.
- The stakes are higher: In today’s challenging policy environment for international students, we choose not to stay silent – we stand together and continue the fight for fairness.
Fair Fares campaign 2024 updates
NSW Labor conference supports Fair Fares!
The Fair Fares campaign has had a huge win with endorsement from the 2024 NSW Labor Conference. At the conference, a motion was passed to amend the NSW Labor platform to support the provision of transport concessions for all tertiary students.
The Usyd Labor Club, along with SUPRA and SRC, has issued a media release calling for the NSW Labor Government to implement this commitment to ‘the provision of transport concessions to all tertiary students, including international and part-time students.’
IPART recommends concession cards for all students!
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) recently conducted a review of the Opal fare structure, including concession fares.
SUPRA attended the public hearing and lodged a submission advocating strongly for all students to have access to concession fares.
IPART have now completed their report, and the recommendation that all students receive concession fares is heavily featured!
SUPRA’s submission to Opal fare review
As part of our campaign for fairer public transport fares for all students, SUPRA has participated in the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) public hearing as part of their investigation into Opal fares. SUPRA strongly advocated for transport concessions for all students. Read the transcript of the public hearing.
SUPRA also lodged a submission to IPART review, advocating for the concession program to be extended to all students – regardless of their citizenship or part-time status.
The fight for Fair Fares went to NSW Parliament!
On Thursday 9 May 2024, the NSW Legislative Assembly tabled our petition for debate. The gallery was packed with students and their supporters. Five members of the Legislative Assembly spoke to the petition and addressed the importance of ensuring that New South Wales is a safe, accepting place for international students to study.
Though the Minister for Transport declined to act on the bill, the day was a clear demonstration of the power of students when we work together, and was an amazing step in the right direction for securing transport concessions for all students. SUPRA continues the fight for fair fares for all students.
City of Sydney stands with students!
In April 2024, the City of Sydney Council passed a motion to support public transport concessions for all students. The City of Sydney Local Government Area is home to over 20,000 students – nearly 10% of the population. It’s amazing to see that the council understand the importance of reduced-cost public transport for all students.
20,000 signatures!
On Thursday 29 February 2024 we achieved our goal of obtaining 20,000 signatures for the Fair Fares campaign! This demonstrates huge community support for travel concessions for all students, including international and part-time students.
More than 20,000 people agree that all students deserve equal access to public transport.
NSW is the only state that does not offer some form of discounted travel for international students, and this needs to change!
We want to thank SUPRA volunteers for all their hard work and dedication while working on this campaign. Without all your work, we would not have reached our goal.
Research
SUPRA’s submission to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s Maximum Opal fares until July 2028 Draft Report. (13 September 2024). [PDF 592KB]
SUPRA Statement in Support of Public Transport Concessions for All Students. (18 October 2023). [PDF 509KB]
Sydney University Postgraduate Association Submission to the NSW Law Commission’s Review of the Anti-Discrimination Act (1988). (18 October 2023). [PDF 560KB]
Media
‘NSW Government indicates travel concession policy won’t change, despite petition’. City Hub (20 April 2024).
‘City of Sydney pushes for public transport concessions for all students’. City Hub (18 April 2024).
‘NSW government signals no change to travel concessions in response to petition’. Honi Soit (17 April 2024).
‘City of Sydney council passed motion supporting Fair Fares campaign’. Honi Soit (10 April 2024).
‘International student in NSW need public transport concessions’. The Australian (9 March 2024).
‘Travel concessions for all students: demands for equality ignored for 20 years’. Honi Soit (14 February 2024).
‘Students want cheaper trains’. The Sunday Telegraph (26 November 2023).
‘Usyd SRC and SUPRA launch petition for opal concessions for all students’. Honi Soit (30 September 2023).
‘Student organisations demand equal travel concessions for international students’. City Hub (29 September 2023).
‘International students deserve concession Opal cards’. Pulp (7 May 2021).
Campaign coalition
Fair Fares is a student-led campaign, hosted by SUPRA. The working group includes student unions from across NSW universities, including SUPRA, the SRC, and the UNSW Postgraduate Council (PGC).
Campaign coordinator: SUPRA Education Officer and Chair of the NSW ISRC, Weihong Liang
Policy and strategic support: SUPRA Caseworker Jet Hunt.
Contact: admin@supra.usyd.edu.au
University support for Fair Fares
University of Sydney pre-budget submission to treasurer (8 March 2024).
Timeline of the struggle for Fair Fares
1989
Then-NSW Premier Nick Greiner’s government oversaw an amendment to the Transport Administration Act 1988, which excluded international students from the state’s Transport Concession Scheme.
2006
Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA)’s then-president, Jenny Leong, took the Labor Transport Minister John Watkins to the NSW Civil and Administrative Decisions Tribunal (NCAT).
SUPRA gathered several individual international students into a class, and argued that excluding international students from transport concessions constituted discrimination on the basis of nationality, a subset of discrimination based on race. SUPRA’s position was upheld by NCAT, and the individual students were awarded compensation for the extra money they had spent on fares during their studies.
2007
The NCAT victory was short-lived. The NSW Transport Administration Act 1988 was amended to exclude it from complying with the Anti-Discrimination Act. As a result, the NSW government did not need to extend the transport concession scheme to international students.
2017
Led by student leader Daneile Fulvi, Bankstown Student Campus Council of Western Sydney University supported a campaign for international students to have access to public transport concessions. In September of the same year, Bankstown Student Campus Council of Western Sydney University signed on to the campaign.
2018
International and domestic students rallied outside the NSW State Labor Party conference on 30 June 2018, calling for ‘an end to the discriminatory policy under which international students are ineligible for student travel concession cards’.
The rally was organised by the Concession Campaign Coalition, a campaign group of students from multiple universities, including University of Sydney, University of NSW, Western Sydney University and University of Technology Sydney.
2019
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), in partnership with the Council of International Students Australia (CISA) and National Union of Students (NUS), released a discussion paper outlining the case for international student concessions. The discussion paper was signed by 10 different student representative associations across the state.
2020
Jenny Leong, Member for Newtown, brought a bill to the NSW Legislative Assembly. Ms Leong argued that in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic and associated cost of living crisis, the cost of full fare travel was simply too much for students to bear. Additionally, Ms Leong highlighted the ongoing racial discrimination perpetrated by the ongoing exclusion of international students from any form of travel concession.
After 2 scheduled debates in the NSW Legislative Assembly, the debate was adjourned.
2023
August: Sydney University’s SRC hosted an open meeting to revive the Fair Fares campaign. In the wake of this meeting, then-SRC president Lia Perkins and SUPRA president Weihong Liang committed to revive the campaign for fair fares for all students.
September–December: Weihong and Lia developed their campaign strategy, including a petition to the NSW Legislative Assembly, as well as lodging a submission to the review of the Anti-Discrimination Act.
The petition was launched on 7 October 2023.
2024
January–March: SUPRA President Weihong and SRC President Harrison Brennan coordinated a mammoth effort between SRC and SUPRA staff, council and volunteers to collect 20,000 signatures for the petition to NSW parliament. Once a petition has 20,000 signatures it must be debated in the NSW Legislative Assembly.
March: The petition achieved its goal of 20,000 signatures. Parliamentary debate on the petition is scheduled for Thursday 9 May 2024.
Timeline written by Ruijie Zhang.
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