Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education. Three million Australians are in for a horrible shock next week. On 1 June, their total HECS debt will increase by over $1 billion. Compulsory repayments that they have made in the last 12 months will not be counted towards their debt before their HECS debts go up yet again. Minister, will you fix HECS by changing the timing of indexation so that repayments can be counted before graduates are hit with indexation?

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

Thank you for your question about student debt. I know your passion and your commitment to this area. Can I make a couple of points about student debt and other related reforms that we're making in our universities.

The first is that we've cut student debt by 20 per cent for three million Australians, and that's the biggest cut to student debt by any Australian government ever. It's taking a massive weight off the backs of young Australians—the same young Australians, incidentally, that were helping with the legislation that the Treasurer has introduced to make it easier for young Australians to buy a home. We don't want to have a country where young Australians are forced to rent forever. That's what this legislation is all about.

The second point is we're now taking steps to make it easier for young people to get a degree cheaper and faster, particularly for young people that have already got a TAFE qualification.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order on relevance under standing order 104. I asked a simple question about indexation of HECS, and I think that the graduates of Australia deserve a simple answer. Thank you, Minister.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question the minister was asked was, 'Will you fix HECS by changing the timing of indexation so that repayments can be counted before graduates are hit with indexation?' I'm just going to ask the minister to be directly relevant to the question he was asked. He was asked about the HECS debt issue, so he's entitled to talk about that. It's only one minute into his answer. I'll listen carefully to make sure he's being directly relevant to the question he was asked.

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

On the point that I was making, let me go back to the point that you've raised. It's all part of the one system that we need reform of. We want to make it easier for young people to get a degree cheaper and faster, particularly if you've been to TAFE, so that you can potentially get a year off your degree and save, potentially, $10,000 off the cost of a qualification. Some universities are doing that already. We want more to.

I also want to make it easier for young people to get a crack at a university degree, full stop. About 50 per cent of young people today in their 30s have got a uni degree, but not everywhere. In an electorate like yours, it's about 70 per cent. In an electorate like mine, it's about 30 per cent. I want to change that. The legislation I'll introduce in a couple of weeks says that if you're a young person from a poor family or from the bush and you've got what it takes, you'll get a place at university.

On the point of indexation, we've already made some important changes to the way HECS is indexed, and that had important benefits for young people right across the country. I know you're also concerned about the job-ready graduates system and how all of that works. I hope you noted that today I announced that Professor Barney Glover has been appointed as the Chief Commissioner of the Tertiary Education Commission. A bloke with a big brain and a big heart. Nobody understands the tertiary education system better than him. He helped to draft the accord, and now he's going to help to build it, including the recommendations that you've pointed to in your questions. Professor Stephen Duckett, incidentally, has also been appointed to the Tertiary Education Commission and is doing work in this area as well, particularly around the cost of teaching and learning. I recognise that in that area, and in so many more, there is a lot of unfinished business and there's more work to do.