Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion to provide for the consideration of the Education and Other Legislation Amendment (Abolishing Indexation and Raising the Minimum Repayment Income for Education and Training Loans) Bill 2022.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice standing in the name of the Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving a motion relating to the conduct of business, namely a motion to provide for the consideration of the Education and Other Legislation Amendment (Abolishing Indexation and Raising the Minimum Repayment Income for Education and Training Loans) Bill 2022.

More than three million Australians will see their student debts swell by a staggering 7.1 per cent on 1 June, and 1 June is approaching fast. The clock is ticking. This parliament needs to act, and it needs to act now.

This matter is urgent because in a few short weeks people with an average debt of $24,000 will be hit with a $1,700 increase to their debt. For more than half a million people with debts of around $40,000 their debts will go up by $2,840, and it will be much higher for others. What's about to hit is nothing short of a student debt avalanche, and this is on top of the 3.9 per cent increase last June. The government know the avalanche is coming and know it will hit young people, women and those on lower incomes the hardest, yet they are doing absolutely nothing about it in the budget tonight, and the Greens won't let them get away with doing nothing. People deserve better than to be caught up in a student debt spiral that is out of control. That's why I'm seeking to have the Greens bill, which would abolish indexation and raise minimum repayment income to the median wage, brought on for consideration right now.

We can't wait any longer. The clock is ticking. People right now are struggling with the cost of living as it rages on. People right now are living in poverty. They are having to choose between heating and eating, between buying medicine or buying a train ticket, between paying rent or paying back their ballooning study debt. Their study debts are rising faster than they can pay them off. Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done right now. Students were out there in force today in a rally outside parliament demanding action. Some of them are in here right now. I applaud your activism and your courage to fight for the right thing.

We have the opportunity to act on student debt before indexation hits on 1 June, and this bill is a clear and immediate step to start tackling the student debt crisis while providing cost-of-living relief as we work towards wiping all student debt and making lifelong education fee-free for all. This bill immediately halts indexation of all study loans, effectively freezing debt levels and saving 3.2 million Australians from being hit by a deeply unfair 7.1 per cent rise in student debt. The bill lifts the current minimum repayment threshold of $48,361 to the median wage, which is $65,000. No-one with a study debt will have to repay a cent of that debt until they're earning above the median wage.

The system that asks people to start paying off student debt, which is unfair from the start, when they earn barely above minimum wage is a cruel, unfair and deeply cooked system. These measures are desperately and urgently needed to bring some fairness to this broken student loan system and to provide relief to millions of Australians struggling under the weight of ballooning student debt. Soaring student debt is already locking people out of the housing market and making it harder for them to get personal loans. It's crushing their dreams of further study and causing people to rethink starting a family. It is causing young people enormous financial and mental stress.

The growing burden of student debt is having an enormous impact every day on people's lives. It is actually making news every day. At a Senate committee inquiry, overwhelming evidence was heard of why student debt should be frozen, indexation scrapped and the minimum repayment income raised, and young people, students, graduates, women and unions all said that these measures should be taken, yet Labor refused to accept that evidence. Today we can choose to make life easier for millions of people, and senators today can actually show people that they care about changing a deeply unfair system, not just talk about it. Talk is cheap; action is what we need. Or, otherwise, they can be held accountable for their actions.

If the Labor government can afford to splurge hundreds of billions of dollars on war machines and stage 3 tax cuts for the billionaires, then these modest measures can surely be affordable. We need action on student debt, and we need that action urgently. So I urge the Senate to listen to the loud and desperate calls of the community, of students and of young people and support the motion so we can make a decision in the interests of the people we serve, not corporations and billionaires.