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

I have two words for the member for Kooyong: thank you. Thank you for your engagement on this bill and your sincere and genuine commitment to this area of public policy. Thank you for bringing this amendment forward. Thank you for the work that you have done in this area for as long as you've been a member of parliament. As you were speaking, I was reflecting on the campaign that you led and the work that you did around the changes to indexation for HECS. That helped to create the environment for the reform that we passed through this parliament a couple of years ago now that lowered student debt by about $3 billion and helped to address the unfairness that existed with the way in which inflation interacted with student debt. So thank you. Thank you for the work that you led there.

And thank you for this amendment. As I've said to you in private conversations—and I'm very happy to say in the chamber here today—I will consider this amendment in the context of the debate, which we will have in the Senate once we've seen the report of the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee. Their inquiry is up and running right now. This is one of those areas where I'm expecting them to present recommendations to us, amongst a range of others, including perhaps some of the areas that the member for Curtin flagged in her amendments. They've got their public hearing on Friday, and we're expecting their report before parliament returns in March. And therefore, whilst I'm not in a position to insert those two words into the bill as we debate it here in the House of Representatives, I do look forward to continuing to work with the member for Kooyong as that debate occurs in the Senate next month.

I indicate that the government will not support this amendment that is about to be put.

Question negatived.

Debate adjourned.

See this speech in context