Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Higgins not only for her question but also for her continued advocacy. The member for Higgins, like many of the members of the side of the House, has had consultations with young people, has gone out there and spoken to young people in her electorate, and I'm grateful for her bringing the question here to the parliament. Last year we held national consultations with around 5,000 young people right across Australia to talk to them about the issues that matter most to them. They told us that cost of living was their No. 1 issue. The No. 1 issue was cost of living.

Education and training were among the top five issues that young people most cared about. We heard from young Australians that they were acutely feeling cost-of-living pressures and they were struggling, particularly with the cost of higher and further education. In fact, if I may, one respondent to our national youth survey said: 'I would love to study more and I would love to upskill; however, university is so expensive that I do not feel it is an option for me.' That was a young person saying they don't feel that higher education is an option for them. At a youth roundtable that I held with the member for Perth in Perth recently, participants who were school students told us they were worried about taking on the debt associated with going to university. And another survey respondent said to us, 'Making education cheaper, whether it is university, school or TAFE, would lead to greater success among young people.' That is what we are hearing from young people directly and they are the words of young people telling us what matters to them—the cost of living and the cost of education. That is why this government is taking action. That is why we are announced we would slash student debt by 20 per cent for everyone. That means, for the average university student, around a $5,500 cut from their HECS debt. That is significant for young people who are struggling with the cost of living. We are raising the threshold from which students have to start repaying their debt, meaning people can pay off their debt more easily.

Not all young people need to go to university, not all young people want to go to university and not all young people should go to university. TAFE and vocational education are really important components of higher education and we want to make sure young people can access TAFE. That's why we have a $1.5 billion investment in fee-free TAFE and VET places, already supporting 500,000 student enrolments since January last year. That's why we're bringing down the cost for young Australians. We're opening doors for them to pursue education and to build a better future for themselves and for Australia.

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