Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) commends the Government for its commitment to reduce student debt by 20 per cent by amending the law relating to:

(a) apprenticeship support loans;

(b) the Higher Education Loan Program;

(c) student start-up loans;

(d) vocational education and training student loans; and

(e) the student financial supplement schemes;

(2) recognises that when combined with the 2024 changes to indexation introduced by the Government, the 20 per cent reduction in student debt will cut approximately twenty billion dollars in debt for approximately three million Australians;

(3) acknowledges that reducing the debt burden for Australian graduates will enable them to better use their skills and earnings to build a better future for themselves and their families;

(4) further commends the Government for promoting intergenerational fairness, recognising that quality education can change lives, and noting that the rising cost of tertiary education over recent decades has coincided with increasing demands for higher qualifications; and

(5) calls on the Opposition to support the Government's measure to help more Australians access quality education, increase their earning potential and keep more of what they earn.

Thanks to the member for Chisholm, who will be seconding the motion. Both of our electorates are home to excellent universities—Monash University and Deakin University in her case, and Curtin University in mine. Curtin University is what brought me to Perth from the Goldfields.

As with many first-generation Australian families, my parents did not complete high school, but they placed a very high value on education. This is such a strong belief for so many migrant families. My parents were thrilled to see my sister and me graduate from university. It is because of this value that keeping the promise to cut student debt, making higher education fairer and more accessible, is the Albanese Labor government's priority, and we are delivering—delivering debt relief to three million Australians. That's 22,000 in my electorate of Swan.

Constituents of mine, like Giovanna in Wilson, have been looking forward to this change. No, Giovanna doesn't have a debt, but she has three adult children who have studied things like architecture, law and engineering. She has explained to me how, through having less debt, her adult children can set their sights on housing and owning their own homes. I think that this is very exciting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this policy, combined with five per cent deposits, brings homeownership closer for young people like them. Giovanna embodies what's great about education. She is a teacher by trade, and she talked about her students like uncovering stars: you never know who will surprise you and shine the brightest. Sometimes it might be a student whose parents didn't go to university. Making education that little bit more accessible makes it easier for those stars to shine bright.

Sonya is another constituent of mine, a First Nations nurse with an old SFSS loan. She's an inspirational woman and has done amazing work with young people, and she is now working as a mental health nurse. She explained how long-term debt can cast a long shadow and that she hasn't seen a tax return for a long time. I'm pleased to say this policy will also apply to her, and I hope that this 20 per cent debt reduction brings a debt-free future closer for her. Sonia is an inspirational woman, and her knowledge has been powerful for those who face mental illness. I think it's wonderful that she's a role model for other First Nations people who might be interested in studying nursing. She has been like a sister to old folks, and a grandmother to the young.

I also note Deputy Speaker Scrymgour is in the chair. It is the first time we have had a First Nations person in the chair in the House. What I think is amazing is that we have the opportunity for people to see the change they want to see. Whether that's in nursing or here on the floor of the parliament, that's very exciting.

Corrosive debt is what HECS tries to avoid, with interest-free loans and income dependent repayments. But the increasing cost of degrees and the Liberals' deliberate flatlining of wages have made HECS a burden. Indexation would have added to this—until this government intervened. Now we are set to put a major dent in the cost and also make the payment system fairer. There will be a higher minimum repayment threshold of $67,000. Repayments will be a percentage of what is earned above this. That means that someone earning $70,000 was paying $1,750 annually, and now they will pay only $450 a year. Those on low incomes who are feeling the sting of the cost of living at the moment can earn more and keep more of what they earn.

Real wages are finally moving again. This is why the coalition's kneejerk reaction was so disappointing—to deny younger generations a hand up and to portray it as a handout, framing this as undeserved and at the taxpayer's expense. It was the same meanness Australia rejected at the election. While our government was delivering tax cuts and banked surpluses, the Liberals fought culture wars. Meanwhile, we're investing in education, and we're making a positive future for all young people.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ben Small (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no such thing as a free lunch, and Australians know that to be the case, but what's worse is that this government has given a free lunch to the few and stung the rest of us with the bill. Those with the highest income earning potential—the doctors, dentists and lawyers—have turned up at the pub and been shouted by Prime Minister Albanese, and it's for the rest of us to foot the bill. At some $16 billion of borrowed money, the cost of this to each Australian household is around $1,600. Every single Australian taxpayer will be paying for this desperate attempt to outbid the Greens before the last election. With more than 24 million Australians struggling with Labor's homegrown cost-of-living crisis and seeing no benefit at all from this policy and yet 27 million Australians being left to pay for it, it is grossly unfair.

But let's not forget where this started, because HECS debts began to increase at eye-watering rates as the Albanese government's complete failure to manage the economy bit hard. Indexation rates have exceeded the Reserve Bank's upper target of three per cent for inflation for the last four years, and that's even after they artificially lowered the rate of indexation in both 2023 and 2024 to mask how completely they had lost control of inflation. More than 55,000 people in Australia have a HELP debt of between $100,000 and $200,000, meaning that under this policy the Labor government has delivered them an average cheque of $25,000. How is this fair when so many young Australians aren't or haven't been students and are struggling to pay the rent or put food on the table because of this government's cost-of-living crisis?

It is also grossly unfair to the millions of Australians who have, in good faith, worked hard to pay off their HELP debt with no discount at all. Take for example Hayden, a physiotherapist I met in Bunbury. He's worked extremely hard in recent years to make additional HECS repayments of some $30,000 on top of the mandatory minimum that he had to pay, and he's now debt free. But having scrimped and saved and done the right thing, he's just seen this Prime Minister take his tax money and give it to his colleagues who didn't do the right thing, who didn't do the hard yards, and who didn't pay down their debts early. What sort of message does this send to the next generation of Australians?

As an opposition, of course we will be critical where we see this sort of industrial-scale pork barrelling, but we will be constructive. I welcome Senator Henderson's proposal today to amend this bill to see the HELP indexation limited to the lower of CPI or a maximum of three per cent, because why should tertiary students pay the price for the Albanese government's complete failure to control inflation in this country? This cap on HELP indexation would apply to all future students, unlike Labor's bill, which leaves them high and dry and subject to the same sorts of failures in the future. Senator Henderson's proposed HELP loan inflation guarantee provides a crucial safeguard against large increases to future student debt driven by high inflation. As Senator Henderson said:

Australians with a student loan or those planning to undertake tertiary studies should not be blindsided by high indexation driven by high inflation, as has occurred under Labor over the past three years.

That's why we're proposing this limitation on indexation. It would deliver both appropriate cost-of-living relief and, importantly, much-needed certainty into the future. It stands in stark contrast to Labor's one-off sugar hit of a 20 per cent discount to current HECS-HELP debtors, which, in fact, deprives those who have done the right thing of being rewarded for their hard work.

As at 1 June, just this year, student loans increased by another 3.2 per cent because Labor's HELP loan scheme is currently uncapped and provides no protection at all against the risk of ballooning indexation into the future. Indeed, since Labor was elected, with the changes to the way that help indexation is calculated, student debt has increased by a staggering 14.3 per cent, which puts this policy into stark perspective. In contrast, annual indexation under the former coalition government averaged just 1.7 per cent. Let's not forget where the blame for this crippling student debt belongs; it is over on the government benches

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's great to hear that those opposite have obviously given away their previous job-ready graduates program, which increased the cost of tertiary education substantially. It's good to hear that they've finally realised that there is a value to tertiary education and that there is a value to intergenerational equity.

We speak often about the importance of education in this place, and we speak about how it changes lives. Many of us, like me, are the first in our families to have the benefit of tertiary education, and we have that personal experience of opportunities that tertiary education can provide. One of the really important tenets of the Labor Party is our commitment to making good quality education available to all Australians, ensuring that everyone has opportunity, irrespective of family wealth. Of course, as a country and as an economy, it is also very much in our interest to ensure that we are developing Australians with the education and skills to do the highly skilled work that we need. Every business I speak to talks to me about their need for more skilled workers, so encouraging people to take up tertiary education and skills training is a productivity issue, a quality-of-life issue and an equity issue.

During the campaign the Prime Minister promised that the first bill to be introduced under a re-elected Albanese Labor government would be this one, to cut 20 per cent off student debts and to increase the threshold that you need to start repaying your student debt. And here we are. This bill, the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025, cuts the student debt of over three million Australians by 20 per cent. In Boothby, just under 24,000 students and former students will benefit from this.

The average student debt today is $27,500, and this legislation will cut that by about $5,500. All up, it will cut student debt by more than $16 billion. The cut will be backdated to 1 June 2025, before this year's indexation occurred. This policy applies to uni students, vocational education students and some apprentices.

This bill also changes repayment systems. It raises the income threshold, when you have to start making repayments, from $54,435 in 2024-25 to $67,000 in 2025-26. It also replaces the current repayment system with a new marginal repayment system. The current system is based on your entire income, and, once you earn above the minimum repayment threshold, you pay a percentage of your entire wage as repayment. Under the changes in this bill you'll only pay a percentage of your wage above the minimum repayment threshold. For example, right now, if you earn $70,000, you'll pay $1,750 each year. Under our changes, you'll only pay $450. That means you'll pay $1,300 less a year, and you can still pay more often if you want to.

While cutting student debt will help young Australians to get ahead, this change to the repayment threshold and structures is an immediate cost-of-living measure. Many of the people who will benefit from this are of the younger generation. They're just starting out, building their careers and lives in some very tough international economic conditions. This cost-of-living measure will mean they will keep more of their income in their pocket; they'll earn more and keep more of what they earn.

I've paid my fair share of HECS debts and I've been lucky enough to be able to pay my student debts off, so I won't personally benefit from this. But, when I went through university, degrees were much cheaper. My HECS contribution represented around 24 per cent of the cost of the degree, compared to about 45 per cent now. So there is an intergenerational equity issue here as well.

We know that young people starting their careers are often on lower incomes. They're trying to enter a housing market suffering from a 40-year backlog in housing, thinking about maybe having a family. So this bill, the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025—and the changes to the repayment threshold and calculator—goes to levelling the playing field a bit for them. It also builds on our previous work in the tertiary education sector. We've wiped $3 billion of student debt and fixed the indexation system; we established a Commonwealth prac payment, to support teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students; we locked fee-free TAFE into law; and we've asked the banking regulators to review the rules, to make it easier for those with a student loan to get into the housing market.

Our changes provide relief for students and young people, while continuing to protect the integrity and value of the HELP system, which has massively expanded higher education access for millions of Australians.

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker Scrymgour. It is excellent to see you in that chair. History is definitely being made today.

I rise in this chamber today to speak on an issue that is at the very heart of Australia's long-term prosperity, long-term resilience and long-term security—and that is our commitment to tertiary education and reducing that growing burden of student debt that people have been crippled by over the preceding decades.

Australia has always had a big presence on the international stage, not because of our size but because of the strength and intelligence of our people. Nothing strengthens a nation more than a well-educated, critically thinking and highly skilled population. But what we have seen grow is a generation of Australians burdened by ever increasing student debt, hitting our teachers, our nurses, our engineers and our scientists the hardest. These are the very people that safeguard Australia's future.

Access to tertiary education should be for the public good and should not be a debt trap. This is not just an economic issue, at the end of the day; this is a national security imperative. As our region becomes more complex, as it becomes more contested, Australia cannot afford to fall behind. Our strategic resilience depends not just on submarines and satellites but on software engineers, cybersecurity experts, medical researchers, linguists, climate scientists and policy specialists, yet we are pricing bright, capable Australians out of this future. So, when a student from the Central Coast or Western Sydney or even regional Queensland hesitates to enrol in university because of the debt they're going to carry into their 30s and 40s, we are not just denying them opportunity; we are weakening this country.

This growing student debt, has become a modern form of economic imprisonment for young people, burdening them before they've even had a chance to build their futures. This growing debt affects their ability to buy a home. Banks consider HECS debts when calculating borrowing capacity, making it harder for young people to get on the property ladder, in particular in places like Melbourne and Sydney, where median house prices are well out of reach.

The debt burden also affects career choices. Graduates often feeling pressure to take higher-paying jobs over meaningful or community focused work—roles that are already understaffed and undervalued. Passion and purpose take a backseat to repayment schedules. Moreover this burden is not shared equally. First Nations students, those from rural and remote communities and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often take on higher debt due to relocation costs, longer study durations or limited access to resources. The system, while marketed as equitable, reproduces existing inequalities.

Now, in this 48th parliament, led by an Albanese Labor government, as we promised, we will be cutting student debt by 20 per cent because that is what people voted for. This is not just a question of fairness; it is a matter of foresight. Education is not a cost; it is our most powerful form of deterrence and our greatest source of national strength. A highly educated society is a resilient society, able to adapt to crises, solve complex problems and, more importantly, lead in the region.

Let us ensure that the next generation of Australians are equipped with not just the knowledge but also the freedom from crippling debt, in order to use it for the good of this country. This is how we build a stronger, safer and, more importantly, smarter Australia.

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

I think we need to note the unusual process today in the House, where we've had only one speaker from the opposite side on this motion, which is very disappointing—that they've absolutely vacated the field when it comes to talking about making life easier for people around this country who have student debt.

I'd like to thank the member for Swan for bringing this important motion to the House today. This is an important motion to my community in Chisholm, too. It is important to me. Indeed, in my very first speech in this place, in the 47th Parliament, I spoke about the importance of higher education to me, to my family and to my community, and I maintain my enthusiasm for higher education and reform in this area.

A total of 26,053 people 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 to this House on the very first sitting day of this new 48th Parliament. This is legislation that both the Prime Minister and this side of the House promised to introduce as the first piece of legislation under a re-elected Albanese Labor government, and it is a promise that of course we have kept, which obviously is very important to the Australian people. We're cutting the student debt of three million Australians by 20 per cent. More than 26,000 of these students are in my electorate of Chisholm. We know that the average HELP debt today is about $27,600. So, when this legislation passes it will cut that debt by about $5½ thousand. If you have a debt of $50,000 it will be cut by $10,000, and if you have a debt of $60,000 you'll see a $12,000 debt reduction.

These are important numbers. They mean more money in the pockets of people in our communities. This is recognition of the need for university education to be affordable and accessible to as many people as possible in our country. Overall, our government will cut student debt by over $16 billion. Student debts will be cut by 20 per cent based on what it was on 1 June this year, before this year's indexation occurred. And I acknowledge one of the members opposite—indeed, the only member opposite who has spoken on this bill today—who was talking about indexation. I know it has been awhile since he served in the other place, but I would, for his benefit, let him know that we have changed arrangements to indexation since we came to government in 2022, meaning that the indexation will be based on the lowest of either the WPI or the CPI.

Through this bill we will see students right across the country getting the maximum benefit possible from this student debt reduction. It'll happen automatically, which is really important. Students will not have to apply, as the ATO will process changes at their end. They don't need to do a thing to access this 20 per cent debt reduction. While it might take a bit of time for the ATO to do this work, once the bill passes, cuts will be guaranteed.

This was a really prominent issue in my electorate of Chisholm, both before the campaign and throughout the campaign. It was a divisive issue for households, not just for students with debt but for their families, too, when they went to cast their vote on 3 May. That we were doing what we could to support people through higher education was seen as very important to my electorate. We have Deakin University in my electorate, and Monash University is just outside the boundary. I know that we've got lots of academics as well as students in my electorate who are eager to see this change and, indeed, all the changes that we have brought so far to this place based on our reforms from the Universities Accord process.

These changes will make a meaningful difference to people with student debt, and I know both current and former students in my electorate do welcome these changes. These are not the only changes we're making to the lives of students. We've wiped $3 billion of HELP debt already, and we've also established a Commonwealth prac payment scheme which will make it easier for so many people to study and complete the courses they want to do.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very proud to be standing here today in this chamber to speak about one of Labor's promises from the last election that we are now bringing to fruition through policy in this House. At the last election, we spoke about the cost of living and that this government will do all it can to help with the cost of living because it was at the top of Labor's agenda. We promised to cut student debt, and the Albanese Labor government is delivering. Today is proof of that. This is a significant policy for the more than three million Australians with a HECS or student debt, and that's why, as promised by the Prime Minister, the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025, which was presented last week, was the first bill to be introduced by the re-elected Labor government.

I am so proud that this Albanese Labor government will cut student debt by 20 per cent. What this means in my electorate of Adelaide is that the 28,520 students and graduates with a HECS or student debt, including VET and TAFE loans, will enjoy an average saving of $5,000. That's why Labor is building Australia's future through its policies. We know that this will make life easier for more than three million Australians with student debt, their families and their local communities. Whether they're just starting out in their career, saving for a home or juggling a mortgage and a young family, every single dollar counts.

As most of us in this chamber are aware, it takes a lot of time, hard work and sacrifice to save or pay $5,500. The member for Swan earlier was spot on that, when combined with the 2024 changes to indexation introduced by the government, the 20 per cent reduction in student debt will cut over $16 billion in debt for our students, our graduates and their families.

This policy absolutely promotes intergenerational fairness, recognising that the rising cost of quality tertiary education over recent decades—and we all know that quality education can change lives—has coincided with increasing demands for higher qualifications. Back in my day, I went to TAFE; I didn't go to university. I did go to university for a very short time but dropped out because it just wasn't for me. But, when I went back to TAFE in the early eighties, I think the fee at the time was around $30 per semester. That enabled me economically to be able to work and have a decent wage at the time and to also be able to afford to get an education and go on in life and do bigger and better things. It is so important that we make education as affordable as possible for people, and we know that, to build Australia's future productivity and prosperity, we need to educate and upskill more Australians.

Last year, the government wiped $3 billion of HELP debt and fixed the system so the indexation on the HELP debts can never increase faster than wages. These are all important measures. This government has locked free TAFE into law, and this landmark policy has seen more than 650,000 enrolments across the country, with approximately 170,000 of these courses already completed. They are training and learning skills that are much needed in our economy and much needed in Australia at the moment.

From 1 July 2025, this Labor government has established the Commonwealth prac payment to support about 68,000 eligible teaching, nursing and social-work students while they're completing their compulsory practical training at university. Again, these are important skills in industries, like the health industry, that we need. We have a huge shortage, and these are all making a difference in our nation and our health system.

We've also massively expanded the fee-free uni-ready courses, which are life-changing courses that help more students from disadvantaged backgrounds get a chance to access university. Changes to the way that universities are funded will start from 2026 and will help more people from the outer suburbs and regions get a chance to go to university and provide them with the support that they need.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.