Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What sort of country collects more from its student debt than it does from its main fossil fuel tax? We used to think that university was so important it should be free. When I started university it was free. Now it leaves people with decades of debt. Our HECS system is broken.

If our government thinks that young people aren't paying attention, they're wrong. In just six days, over 100,000 people have signed my petition to make HECS fairer. Young people are facing a housing crisis and a cost-of-living crisis. Now this government is giving them a HECS crisis too. People have written to me this week about their HECS debt stopping them from getting a home loan. Some have said that their HECS debt is over $100,000. Others point out that the system particularly disadvantages women, especially those who see their HECS debt continue to rise while they take time off for unpaid parental leave.

This morning I handed my petition to the education minister and, on behalf of the more than 100,000 people who have signed it, I urged him to fix HECS indexation. When I gave it to him this morning it had 92,000 signatures. It now has more than 105,000.

To those people who want to see HECS debts easier to pay off, I say to them: now is your chance to do it. The government is considering changes as we speak. They need to see young people stand up and demand change because if the government doesn't change our HECS system young people will change how they vote.