Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the education minister. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to cut student debt? Are there any approaches that would leave Australians worse off?

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

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

Order! Members on my right will cease interjecting immediately so the Manager of Opposition Business can make his point of order.

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

On relevance: the path that the minister's going down cannot be relevant to a question on education, particularly with pre-prepared answers before question time. So I'd ask you—

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

Resume your seat. I'm going to ask the minister to return to the question. He wasn't asked about alternative approaches, but he was asked about any approaches that would leave Australians worse off. I'll ask him to get back to the question and not to stray too far, to assist the House.

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

If we win the election, we'll cut student debt by 20 per cent. That will leave three million Australians better off. If those opposite win the election, Australians won't get that. They'll be worse off. Instead, that money will be spent on bosses' lunches. That's the difference. The opposition leader says that he thinks $1.6 billion on bosses' lunches is an efficient use of taxpayers' money. He doesn't say that about Medicare. He doesn't say that about child care, but, apparently, cut-price croquembouche for bosses—that's chef's kiss. I think most Australians will think it's a crock of something else. (Time expired)