Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the Government's commitment to making Australia's student loan system better and fairer by:

(a) cutting 20 per cent off all student loan debts, wiping around $16 billion in student debts for around three million Australians;

(b) raising the threshold people can earn before they start having to pay off their loans;

(c) changing the way these mandatory repayments are calculated through a marginal repayment system; and

(d) building on reforms to fix the indexation formula, which is cutting around $3 billion in student debt;

(2) recognises that all up, the Government will cut close to $20 billion in student loan debt for more than three million Australians; and

(3) notes that these commitments are all part of the Government's plans to create a better and fairer education system for all Australians.

Education changes lives, and, like many members in this place, I had the absolute privilege of attending Monash University. My alma mater has one of their incredible campuses in my electorate in Caulfield. However, my grandparents on my father's side left school when they were teenagers. They didn't have the opportunity to attend university and access higher education. It wasn't because of attitude; they were brilliant—the opportunity was not afforded them. They moved to Australia in search of freedom, opportunity and equality. Part of that was the ability of their children to have the opportunities that they did not have and for their grandchildren to have the opportunities that they do not. That is what the HECS system is all about. It's about ensuring that everyone can have access to higher education studies. It's about ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to climb the ladder in Australia. I know how much education has changed my family's life, and I know how much education has changed other Australians' lives as well.

The reality is that HECS was never designed for young people to have lifelong debt. I've spoken to countless members of our community who feel the burden of student debt right now. In Macnamara, we have approximately 27,000 people facing student debt—HECS debt. They're feeling it at the supermarket. They're feeling it when they pay their bills. They're feeling it when thinking about whether they can afford to buy a home. That is why I was so proud of our announcement a couple of weeks ago. The Minister for Education announced that we will wipe off 20 per cent of all student debt. That will wipe around $16 billion of student debt for around three million Australians. It's not just university debt; it also includes debt from TAFE courses and apprenticeship loans. Someone with a HECS debt of $27,600 will see around $5½ thousand wiped from their loan next year.

Additionally, we announced our plans to make the repayment system fairer by cutting the repayment rate as well as increasing the threshold before one starts to pay it off. For someone on an income of $70,000, this means they'll pay around $1,300 less per year in repayments. We know Australians are doing it tough right now and, fundamentally, this is about giving young people a bit more of the support that they need right now. They shouldn't have to be worrying about paying off their HECS debt until they are earning a sustainable income.

Last week, the Minister for Education joined me in the great electorate of Macnamara. We had a coffee with some university students who were at different stages of their university degrees and were talking about what this meant for them. They also told us about the increases in the cost of humanities degree. As a student of the humanities, I completely support the idea of making sure that humanities are not too expensive and that we encourage critical thought, writing, literature history and, of course, politics. Our reforms not only provide cost-of-living relief for people when they need it most but also are about making sure higher education is there and opportunity is there for those when they need it and wherever they live across our great country, including those from regional Victoria. All up, our government will wipe approximately $20 billion in student debt loans for approximately three million Australians. This recent announcement was on top of the budget announcement we made earlier this year to make indexation fairer and wipe an initial $3 billion of student debt. These recent changes provide significant relief for students while continuing to protect the value of the HELP and other student loan systems which have meant that more young people can get access to higher education.

Across my electorate we have some fantastic higher education providers, including Monash University in Caulfield and of course the University of Melbourne in South Bank, just to name a couple. I know how much accessing these universities as well as so many of our great universities in Victoria and across our country means to the lives of young Australians. It should be hard. University is hard. You should have to work hard in order to complete it. But it also should be possible, and so should paying off your student debt. We are making changes. We are making it fairer. We are reducing that debt, and we're going to make sure that more young people can have access to university in this great country of ours.

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