Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 is a piece of legislation that I absolutely support, along with all of my Labor colleagues of course. We are talking about making it easier for young people to engage in their tertiary education knowing that their HECS payments will be indexed into the future to whichever is cheapest: CPI or wages. This is a change coming in the middle of tough times for most Australian families. We've heard young people around the country tell us of their shock at the indexation that they have seen happen to their HECS debts over recent times.

This is the Albanese government's very responsive reaction to that, bringing in legislation to assist those former students or current students in a time where people are doing it tough. This is part of the Labor government's commitment to our young people. We understand that education is an absolute asset. We understand that education changes lives. We understand that young people being supported through educative processes to reach their potential is one of the most important things that a federal government can do. It's part of the Labor Party's DNA to see equity of access to higher education in this country.

The previous speaker liked to quote, and many in this place like to quote, the great Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam's introduction of free education, which broke open the sandstone universities around this country to working class children for the first time. As I was just saying to someone in my office as we were discussing this, one of the first things it did was change attitudes about girls and higher education. That was one of the first things we saw change, that suddenly families perceived that their daughters might pursue higher education, where in the past they may not have. It didn't necessarily impact on working class families immediately, but it did over time. It is a hallmark of Labor governments since Gough Whitlam that equity and access in the higher education system is always stronger under a Labor government.

This legislation is more grist to that mill. It is a commitment from the Albanese Labor government that young people can be assured that we support them pursuing their potential. We support the young people in this country to engage in higher education and become the most skilled that they can become, to support their curiosity and to create the great scientists that we hailed today after question time. To have that curiosity piqued and to have it channelled in our universities sector is something that is in the Labor Party's DNA. I'm very pleased to rise to stand and support Minister Clare in the introduction of this piece of legislation today.

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