Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering its commitment to cut student debt by 20 per cent and make tertiary education better and fairer? What has been the response?

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

I thank the marvellous new member for Moreton for her question. This is a special time of the year. Cricket is on the telly, even if it is for just two days. We have meat on the barbie, the sounds of cicadas and lawnmowers, kids opening presents, the sound of champagne corks popping and knives sharpening—and that is just over there in the Liberal Party! And this year there will be the sound of something else, the sound of millions of phones beeping with a message that your student debt has been cut by 20 per cent. Tomorrow 1½ million Australians will have their debt cut by 20 per cent, and, next week, another 1½ million Australians will have their debt cut, too. This will be the biggest cut to student debt in Australian history. We promised it, Australia voted for it and we are delivering it.

But it is not the only thing we are delivering. Paid prac has now started—that is, financial support for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students while they do their practical training. Next year more people will study medicine than ever before. We announced with the health minister more places for people to become doctors than ever before. And next year 25,000 Australians will be able to do one of those free bridging courses to give them the skills that they need to get ready to start a university degree, more than ever before. Next year more Australians will also be able to start a uni degree than ever before

To drive real long-term reform here today, I introduced legislation to create the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, and part of its job is to break down the barrier between TAFE and university. Let me give you an example. The University of Canberra has just announced that it will take a year off your degree if you've completed a diploma in the same area. This is for nursing, early education, graphic design, accounting and a few other areas. This saves you time—it saves you a year off your degree—but it also saves you money, on average about $6,000, off the cost of a degree. I want to see more examples of that, making it easier for people to get the skills and the qualifications that they want and that they need quicker and cheaper—a more joined up system—because we know that things work better when they are united, not divided. And if you want proof of that, just look over there!