Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the weekend, the Prime Minister and Minister Clare announced that a re-elected Albanese Labor government will cut student debt by 20 per cent for every Australian carrying a HECS-HELP debt. It will also raise the threshold at which debt has to start being repaid, bring down minimum debt repayment levels and make fee-free TAFE permanent. These measures combined will slash $5,500 from the average level of student debt and put $680 a year back into the household budgets of university graduates and their families, including 8½ thousand across my electorate of Lyons.

Bringing down student debt is part of Labor's broad suite of measures to tackle the cost-of-living pressures that we inherited from the Liberals three years ago. When Labor was elected, interest rates were on the rise and inflation was more than six per cent. The budget was suffering from waste, rorts and incompetence. Our new Labor government took immediate steps to bring down the pressures that had built up under 10 years of Liberal mismanagement. Labor brought down two budget surpluses in two years, when the Liberals achieved none in 10. Labor delivered tax cuts for every taxpayer, including bigger tax cuts for nine in 10 Tasmanian workers, when the Liberals planned to give big tax cuts to high-income earners but no new tax cuts for low-income earners. Labor created one million new jobs, a record achieved by no other new government since Federation.

Labor increased bulk-billing across Australia, when it was in freefall under the Liberals, and created Medicare urgent care clinics—opposed by the Liberals. I look forward to one opening in my electorate imminently. Labor slashed the cost of medicines on the PBS and introduced 60-day scripts—opposed by the Liberals. Labor provided energy bill rebates—opposed by the Liberals. Labor made child care cheaper—opposed by the Liberals. Labor introduced fee-free TAFE courses for skills in critical short supply—opposed by the Liberals. And Labor introduced a $10 billion plan to address the nation's critical shortage of housing supply—opposed by the Liberals and, inexplicably, opposed by the Greens. Key elements of Labor's housing supply plan still remains stuck in the Senate, condemning tens of thousands of Australians to homelessness while the Liberals and the Greens play politics.

Every time Labor have tried to fix the mess left behind by 10 years of Liberal neglect, the Liberals have opposed us. Every time Labor have tried to make life just that little bit easier for Australians struggling with the cost-of-living pressures that are affecting countries worldwide, the Liberals have opposed us. And now, predictably, the Liberals are opposing our plans to reduce student debt. We will get on with the job of fixing the mess the Liberals left behind. We will get on with the job of building Australia's future.