Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to cut student debt? What has been the response to these reforms? Are there approaches that would leave students worse off?

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

I thank my friend the hirsute member for Hawke for his question! If you want a good example of the difference between Labor and Liberal then this is it. We're cutting HECS debt for three million Australians, and they want to cut the cost of lunch for bosses. That's it in a nutshell. We've already cut HECS debt by more than $3 billion for three million Australians. We passed those laws late last year, and over Christmas the ATO made this change, cutting the debt of three million Australians. But there's more to do and there's more that we will do. If we win the next election, we will cut all student debts by a further 20 per cent. That means that somebody with an average HECS debt of 27 grand today will see that debt cut by more than $5,000. If they've got a HECS debt of 50 grand then that will be cut by $10,000. That's a lot of help for a lot of young people who are just out of uni and just getting started. What do you think the Liberals think of all of this? They're opposed to that.

Government members: No! Really?

Surprise, surprise—they say that's a terrible idea. They think it's a terrible idea that we should cut the debt of Aussie workers and Aussie students. Well, I'll tell you what I think a terrible idea is: making these same students and workers pay for their boss's lunch. I'll give you 1.6 billion reasons why, because that's how much it'll cost: $1.6 billion a year—at least.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Minister for Industry and Science will cease interjecting so I can hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order's on relevance. It cannot be directly relevant to the question about education and HECS for the minister to be engaging in this diatribe about the opposition.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will hear from the Leader of the House.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the final part of the question says, 'Are there approaches that would leave students worse off?' I'm not sure how this is anything other than relevant. He's referring specifically to approaches that would leave students worse off.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll just deal with this, it's fine. I did hear the minister refer to the figure regarding students and teachers paying for the policy, so that is being directly relevant, but he can't have the remainder of his answer simply be about opposition policy because he wasn't asked about opposition policy. He was asked the whole question, so he's got to make it relevant. As long as he's talking about the alternative approaches and making it relevant to his portfolio, he is being directly relevant, but I'll listen carefully to make sure he remains relevant.

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

Here's the point that makes this relevant: we want to cut student debt by 20 per cent. They want students and Aussie workers to pay for their boss's lunch, and that's how that would make them worse off to the tune of $1.6 billion a year. That's a lot of steak tartare. That's a lot of lobster. I think that, when a lot of Australians find out about this—a lot of Aussie students and a lot of Aussie workers—they'll be pretty angry about it. Their hard-earned money is going to pay for all of this.

I'd say that, over the next few months as people go to cafes and restaurants and see someone pull out a credit card, they've got to think for themselves that, if the Liberals win the next election, that could be them and their tax dollars having to pay for all of that. The choice at the next election is very clear. We'll cut your debt; they want you to pay for your boss's lunch. Under the Labor Party, we'll cut your student debt by 20 per cent to help you get started and help build Australia's future. Under the Liberal Party, they will leave all Australians worse off and left to pick up the boss's bill.