Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

We will then deliver further relief to all Australians with a student debt by 1 June next year, before the next round of indexation is applied. This will cut a further 20 per cent off all student debts. We will also raise the minimum repayment threshold to make the HECS repayment system fairer.

The third step is to establish an Australian tertiary education commission to provide advice to government on the setting of course fees. The government expects ATEC to be operating from the middle of next year. It's appropriate that any legislative changes go through the proper process of scrutiny and consultation, as the bill before us has. I can assure the Senate and the Australian community that the Australian Labor government and only the Albanese Labor government will cut a further 20 per cent off all student debts that exist at 1 June next year.

So what this actually is by the Greens is a political stunt. We're pretty used to them in this chamber, we'd have to say, from what they do from motion to motion, from policy to policy and from legislation to legislation. The Greens are proposing that we make significant structural changes to the HECS system without the Senate applying any scrutiny to it. No inquiries, no community consultation—absolutely nothing. They announced that they would be moving these amendments over a week ago, in a media release. Then there was silence until moments before the committee stage began this afternoon, when we finally saw the amendments, all two pages of them.

Having done that, the Greens voted against a motion to have these amendments properly considered by a committee. That speaks volumes for where they're at. The committee would consider, for example, if the mechanisms they propose are appropriate, if they have any unintended consequences, if they leave any students behind or if they don't grasp all of the complexities of the HELP system.

Instead, they expect this chamber to make significant structural changes to the HECS system on a handful of hours' notice of the provisions on a two-page amendment. It's an irresponsible approach and it's disrespectful of the process being undertaken here, and the government will, therefore, not support it. It is, however, emblematic of how the Greens approach so many areas of national importance, whether that be housing or education—they pursue stunts instead of good policy, media releases instead of considered amendments. The amendments will be opposed.