Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is an important day for my electorate of Chisholm, for 26,053 students with a student loan debt in Chisholm are in line for a 20 per cent cut to their student debt following the introduction of legislation that the Prime Minister promised would be the first introduced to this House under a re-elected Labor government. This is such a prominent issue in my electorate and, I know, was a decisive factor when students and families went to cast their vote on 3 May. For someone with a HELP debt of $50,000, this change will cut their debt by $10,000. These changes will make a meaningful difference to people with student debt and I know both current and former students in my electorate welcome these changes, as do their families.

In my first speech in this place in the 47th Parliament, I spoke about the importance of higher education and how pleased I was to be part of a government that was going to take reform to higher education seriously. We are delivering meaningful reform to the sector to make it more accessible for more Australians, and this is part of our commitment. We've also established a Commonwealth prac payment to support about 68,000 teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students to complete their degrees. I will continue to advocate for reform in this area so that more Australians have the opportunity to access affordable higher education in this country.

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