Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Can I thank, again, my friend the member for Macnamara for his question. Well, the race that stops the nation has been run and won, and there are a few lucky winners across the country. But, in the next few weeks, there won't just be a few winners; there'll be millions of them. That's because we're cutting student debt by 20 per cent. We're now in the home straight. A year ago, the Prime Minister announced it. Six months ago, Australia backed it. Three months ago, we passed it. In just a couple of weeks time, Australians will get it. Millions of Australians will get their student debt cut by 20 per cent. Millions will get their debt cut by thousands of dollars—on average, about $5½ thousand. Young people don't always see something for them on the ballot paper when there's an election, but they did this year, and they voted for it in their millions. And now they're about to get it and to see it and to feel it and to hear it. They'll get a ding on their phone, an email or a text message, to tell them that their debt has been cut by 20 per cent. When that happens, there'll be one person that they can thank for it, and that's this Prime Minister.

I'm asked by the member for Macnamara what else we are doing to build a better and a fairer education system. I can advise the House that paid prac has now started. That's financial help for teaching students, nursing students, midwifery students and social work students while they do their practical training. That's real cost-of-living help. So far, more than 65,000 Australians have applied to get it. I can also advise the House that next year two new end-to-end medical schools will open up to train more doctors, one in the north, in Darwin, and one in the south, in Launceston. Next week, I'll open two more university study hubs, one on the west coast, in Northam, and one on the east coast, in Beenleigh. This Friday, I'll be in Smart Street in the heart of Fairfield, in the heart of Western Sydney, with the member for McMahon, opening the university study hub that the member for Fowler asked me about just last week, bringing university closer to where people live. This is what delivery looks like, and this is what we are focused on: cutting student debt by 20 per cent, paid prac for teaching and nursing students, and more university study hubs in the bush and in the suburbs. And there's more to come.

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