Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and I give him credit for having the courage to come to the dispatch box, having been part of a government that left a $78 billion deficit that we turned into a $22 billion surplus—we then produced a second surplus a year after—and an opposition that, when they were in government, left $1 trillion of debt, red ink as far as the eye could see. What we have done in government is halve inflation. When we came to government, it had a six in front of it, and today it has a two in front of it. We've done that while we've created on our watch one million jobs—the first time that has ever happened by any government in any term since Federation.

At the same time, we've got real wages increasing. They've increased by more since we came to government than what occurred under their previous nine long years. What we have also done is provide cost-of-living relief when it's been necessary and done it in a way that is responsible. But they've never seen any cost-of-living relief they didn't want to bag. They've never supported any of it, so it's not surprising they're not supporting this relief either.

What this is about is cutting student debt by 20 per cent. The first thing we'll do if we're re-elected is introduce legislation. Three million people will benefit. A typical university graduate will see their debt cut by $5½ thousand. As a direct result of what the former government, the Morrison government, did—by lowering the threshold in which payments have to come back—for some people their interest that they are paying is more than their original debt. That is a direct result. So we're also raising the student debt repayment threshold from $54,000 to $67,000 and lowering the repayment rate. If you're earning $70,000 a year, you'll save $1,300 a year in repayments.

But, in addition to that, we are also making free TAFE permanent. Already, 500,000 Australians have benefitted. There are more tradies to build homes, more apprentices getting a start, more carers to look after our loved ones and more opportunities for Australians. We understand that education is the key to opening those doors of opportunity and we want to widen them. That's what this government is about, and I'm proud of the announcements that we made over the last few days. And, over the coming days and weeks and months, there will be more about what our second-term agenda looks like. (Time expired)

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