Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the absolutely sensational member for Swan for her question. If Labor win the election, we'll cut student debt by 20 per cent.

Government members: Hear, hear!

That will help three million Australians right across the country, including 21,000 Australians in the member for Swan's electorate. The average student debt there is $28,000. That means, if we win the election, on average they'll get more than 5,600 bucks wiped off their debt. Incidentally, it also includes more than 20,000 Australians in the Leader of the Opposition's electorate. The average debt there is almost 26 grand. If we win, they'll have more than five grand wiped off their debt. It also includes more than 25,000 Australians in the electorate of Sturt. There, the average debt is almost 30 grand. That means if Labor wins they'll get almost six grand wiped off their debt. It also includes 31,000 people in the electorate of Griffith. There, the average debt is more than 30 grand. If Labor wins, more than six grand will be wiped off their student debt.

We think that's good. We think that's a good idea. The Liberals think it's terrible. They've described this as a terrible idea. We want to cut your student debt. What do they want to do instead? They want to cut the cost of lunches for bosses. We're looking to the future; they can't see past lunchtime. If we win, five grand comes off your debt. If they win, 20 grand comes off the boss's lunch. That's it, and that's a lot of croquembouche. That's $1.6 billion each and every year. That's a lot of croquembouche. That's a lot of caviar. That's a lot of deductible degustation. When the opposition leader was asked about this just two weeks ago at a press conference in Goulburn, he said this about this $1.6 billion a year: 'It's quite an efficient use of taxpayers' money.'

Government members interjecting—

See this speech in context