Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government making education more affordable and more accessible, and is there any opposition to this?

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

I thank the member for Boothby for her question and I thank her and the other South Australian members for hosting us in the great city of Adelaide yesterday, along with Peter Malinauskas, the premier South Australia. This government does want to help more Australians in both TAFE and university in higher education, but we want do to more than that as well. We want the continuing of education from early childhood education—and the measures we have made there include the 15 per cent pay increase, with 10 per cent this December and another five per cent next December—to the work the minister for education is doing in schools, where we have $16 billion on the table to support the objectives that have been around since the Gonski review, which would lift the resourcing standard up for every student. I note that a range of states and territories have already signed up, and we're hoping to get more in coming weeks.

But when it comes to higher ed, it is absolutely vital that we invest because 80 per cent of the students who are currently in primary school will require either a university degree or a TAFE qualification in order to get employment in their post-school years. It's not something that's an add-on; it's something that will be a necessary component.

That's why yesterday we announced that three million people will benefit from the 20 per cent cut in student debt. A typical university graduate will see their debt cut by $5,500. That's why we're raising the student debt repayment threshold so that if you're earning $70,000 a year, you'll save $1,300 a year in repayments. That's why we're making free TAFE permanent. Just before question time I met with some apprentice mechanics who are working at Toyota here in Canberra. They're up there in the gallery—the fantastic apprentices who are taking the opportunity to better their lives but also to make a contribution to our national economy. That will make an enormous difference. It will help everyone with student debt now and deliver a better deal for students in the year ahead. Permanent structural reform to boost take-home pay for young Australians, putting more money back into pockets. It's good for cost of living, good for intergenerational equity and good for building Australia's future.