Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024. I would like to associate myself with the comments of my colleagues and, in particular, of our spokesperson on higher education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi.

Now, don't be confused—and this is to the students up there watching this—this isn't the bill that would make some, not all, TAFE places free. Nor is this the bill that would reduce student debt by 20 per cent. I note, of course, that that's not 100 per cent; it's only 20 per cent. This is a bill with some tweaks. Sure, they're welcome tweaks, but 'tweaks' is perhaps a generous description. It's a bill that tweaks the rate of indexation on student debt. So this will make an impossibly awful situation ever so slightly less awful for uni graduates who are graduating with debts that perhaps have been unmatched in history so far. This is a step in the right direction, but it's the tiniest possible step that anyone could possibly take. Once again, we see our hearts being broken by this government, who gave us such great hopes for real reform to tackle the issues that people are facing. Student debt is one of those key issues in a cost-of-living crisis, and not deterring people from further study is something that should be top of the list for any government. So, unfortunately, we see that we have the tiniest possible change to this area of policy, which really merits broader and deeper reform to actually help people.

I remain baffled at why this government lacks the courage to enact the changes that people deserve and that, frankly, I think it was elected to deliver on. I don't understand where the breakdown in communication is between students, who are facing the biggest amounts that they've ever had to pay for higher education, whether that's TAFE or uni, and the government, who think, 'We're just going to make some tweaks to the inflation rate of that debt.' If these changes are made—and the Greens will support them being made—student debt will still have increased by 11½ per cent under this government's watch. Where's the bill to cancel student debt completely?

We've said, 'Of course we will back in your proposal for these indexation tweaks and we'll back in your proposal for a 20 per cent reduction of student debt.' But it's not enough, folks. I'm sure that 20 per cent will be welcome, but that compound interest is killing students. I want to flag that I had to pay for my education. I wasn't like some of the others in this chamber and the other place who got their university education for free. It took me getting elected to the Senate to pay off my student debt for my environmental science degree and my law degree at Griffith University in Meanjin/Brisbane. Get yourself elected so you can pay off your HECS debt—that's hardly a policy solution that will apply to everyone, is it? Of course, we need more ordinary people elected to this place. But it took me that long to pay off my HECS debt and half of a drama degree that I'd done prior to that. The compound interest was already making my debt worse, and the situation has only gotten worse in the meantime.

We see degrees that are now costing more than they ever did. Compound interest and inflation are turbocharging those debts, and now we have a timid government that's dangling the tiniest of fixes to that situation, making some slight reductions to the indexation rate, which we will support. But it's just not what students actually need. We want to see student debt cancelled. I remember, when I was still at uni, I was having a discussion about how much our degrees cost, and I said: 'It's alright. The Greens will be in government one day, and they'll just cancel my student debt.' Perhaps I was needing to be a little bit more patient. But here we are, with the potential to make some changes, and, once again, the government are choosing to make absolutely the most miniscule amount of reform that they possibly can.

I would urge the government to listen to the real pleas and needs of students, who deserve to be able to go to uni without crippling debt, should have their existing debt cancelled and should be able to get their degrees for free. Free university, free TAFE and cancelling student debt was one of the amazing reforms of the Whitlam government that this Labor government should be proud of and should be trying to get us back to. We could have these things. You have the numbers to pass those reforms. We beg you, we invite you and we urge you to do those things. We will vote for them. We will back those in. We've been pushing for these reforms for decades. You're in government. You've got the chance to do that, and you've got the numbers to get it through. Why are you so timid? Why are you so disappointingly beige in actually tackling the issues that students are facing?