Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you so much, Senator Walker, for the question. I know that you, Senator Walker, believe that higher education should open doors, not leave young people weighed down by unfair debt. In our last term, the Albanese Labor government made HECS indexation fairer. That change wiped $3 billion in debt for three million Australians. That was a huge change, but now we're going further. We have introduced legislation that will deliver the biggest student debt relief Australia has ever seen: a 20 per cent cut to student debt, $16 billion in total. It will provide relief for around three million Australians. If you've got an average HECS debt of $27,000 a year, you'll see $5½ thousand wiped away. This isn't just for uni students. It includes HELP, TAFE and VET loans too, because, no matter where or what you study, you deserve a fair start in life. We promised this in the lead-up to the election, last week we introduced the legislation and this week we have the chance to pass it into law.

While Labor is delivering, the coalition is at war with itself. This morning Senator Henderson was out there again, freelancing in the media about amendments to the HECS legislation. You would expect the Leader of the Opposition to be steering the coalition's position, but who is steering the coalition's position? Instead we have Senator Henderson, the self-appointed shadow shadow minister, casting a long shadow from up there and rewriting the coalition's policies from the backbench. While you undermine each other, we'll back students with real debt relief.