Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker Scrymgour, first let me congratulate you also as the first First Nations person to lead from that chair. I rise tonight to support the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025. As I mentioned in my first speech to this House, my mum, Luella, who still lives in my electorate, couldn't fulfil her dream of becoming a teacher because her parents couldn't afford for her to go to college. My twin sister and I were the first in our family to attend university, and this would not have happened had university not been affordable. As one of eight kids with mum staying at home and dad working as a sparky, there was no way they could have afforded for us to attend university. That is why I am forever grateful that, all those years ago, Labor made university accessible and affordable for all. The opportunity to study enabled my sister and I to pursue our careers and build our lives.

I want young people across Brisbane afforded the same opportunity I was given to potentially live the life that they want. However, setting yourself up for life through education should not put undue financial pressure on any of us and our families. At a time where there are cost-of-living pressures, people are feeling an even greater impact of study debt, so it was right that the government do something about it and that they do it now. During the election campaign, the Prime Minister made a commitment that, if elected, one of the first things we would do is introduce legislation to wipe 20 per cent off student debt, and that is exactly what we are doing. Having access to affordable education is an important foundation in anyone's life. That is why I am proud to be part of a government who is delivering better and fairer education for all. Education has the power to change lives.

On this side of the House, we believe in supporting our young Australians through their entire education journey. This support starts in early years with our cheaper childcare policy. More than a million Australian families have benefited from cheaper child care, delivering real cost-of-living relief to households, including those in Brisbane. This is good for children, good for families and good for Australia. We also committed at the last election to the three-day guarantee starting from January next year. This will deliver a guaranteed three days a week of formative early childhood education. It means more than 100,000 families will be entitled to more hours of subsidised education and care. The government will also roll out the $1 billion Building Early Education Fund, which will boost access to early education and care in areas of need, including in the outer suburbs and regional Australia.

Our education system relies on professionalism and the dedication of our educators. Labor recognises the critical role they play in teaching our kids, which is why Labor is supporting childhood educators with a 15 per cent pay rise. I was recently at a Goodstart centre in Ashgrove with the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Senator Walsh, who delivered this good news to local educators. Of note, though, most were female, which I guess is unsurprising, given the profession, but this is important because more women getting paid more goes a long way to delivering gender pay equity.

Right before the election the Prime Minister announced the landmark deal with the states and territories—that our public schools will be fully funded, and fairly funded, right across the country. This will deliver record funding to schools and introduce targeted reforms, which will help students to catch up, keep up and finish up. But support doesn't and shouldn't stop there. In my community of Brisbane there are more than 25,000 students across TAFE, vocational schools and education. There are also more than 34,000 with student debt. That's the third largest concentration in the economy. This equates to approximately $1.1 billion in debt. This bill means that the young people of Brisbane will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the reduction in student debt, which I am proud to be part of delivering.

Whether you are a professional, at 37 per cent of our Brisbane workforce, or a technician, tradie or community and personal service worker, who make up another 20 per cent, you will benefit from this student debt reduction. Professionals, builders, bakers, nurses, teachers, paramedics and the rest who have finished your education with a debt and are working in your chosen field: you will benefit from this student debt reduction. If you are still studying you will benefit from this debt reduction. No matter how you choose to study, this government wants to make sure education isn't a barrier to leading a decent life.

We've heard tonight that the average student debt today is about $27½ thousand. This legislation will cut that debt by about $5½ thousand. To the people of Brisbane and across Australia: if you've got a debt of $50,000, this law will cut it by $10,000. All up, this bill will cut student debt by more than $16 billion. And the good news is that it will be backdated to 1 June this year.

This bill also proposes structural reform to how the repayment system works. As noted by Bruce Chapman, the architect of HECS, this is the single most important change to the HECS system in over 35 years. These changes will make repayments cheaper, and they kick in later, when workers are earning more money. Again, this will help young Australians who are trying to save for a deposit on a house or who are trying to build up their own piggy bank—like Angus, or my sons, who live in Brisbane, who are young and starting to make their own way in the world.

Unsurprisingly, before the most recent election the coalition attacked this policy. They called it 'profoundly unfair' and said Australians would see no benefit from this policy. With comments like these, it's no wonder young people are abandoning the coalition in droves, and a recent report confirms that. I'm not surprised. Young people are finding it tough. They want to be listened to, and that is what Labor is doing with this bill.

Just this week we also heard those opposite say that there is no such thing as a free lunch, referring of course to student debt. But those opposite love a free lunch, like the tax cuts for the highest earners in the country or the free lunch for bosses that they wanted to bring back. If the LNP want to be taken seriously they need to start listening to our young people. They have a chance to do this with this legislation, not just by voting for it but by actually speaking in support of it.

Young people made their voices heard at the election, and they have put their faith in our government to deliver on reforms that will make a difference in their lives—young people like Angus, who I mentioned earlier. He runs his own small business walking dogs to support himself while studying his bachelor of communication at QUT. And there's Nathan, who recently graduated and is now completing his PhD in mechanical aerospace engineering. Nathan will now be $9½ thousand closer to getting a deposit on his home. And there are people like Mason, who studied advanced programming at TAFE and has now gone on to university to study IT and computer science.

It's not just this reform that Labor has delivered. Our government has established, as of 1 July, a Commonwealth prac payment to support about 68,000 eligible teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students.

On top of this, our government has locked free TAFE into law. This landmark policy has seen more than 650,000 enrolments across the country, with 170,000 of those courses already completed. From 1 January this year, the Labor government also massively expanded fee-free uni-ready courses. This is important because it provides a different pathway to finish school and is helpful to those especially from disadvantaged backgrounds or who just don't like school to access TAFE or university.

Last year the government wiped $3 billion off HELP debts and fixed the system so that indexation on HELP debts can never increase faster than wages. The fact that this happened is unfair. It caused a lot of angst among young people, including people in my electorate, and Labor fixed it.

Labor is doing a lot to help with the cost of living. On top of the reductions that this law introduces, we've seen tax cuts and energy bill relief coming, and we heard today about more bulk-billing. But we also know that young people often get jobs in hospitality to support their studies. This bill is all about delivering on a promise. It's about giving everyone a fair go. It's about making the education system fairer and restoring generational equality.

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