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

Thank you, Senator Pocock. We are very serious about reducing student debt. That's exactly why we're here in the chamber today with a bill that does what we, before the election, said we were going to do. We said we were going to wipe 20 per cent off student debt, and that is exactly what we are doing. That's $5½ thousand for the average person with a HECS debt of about $27,000. We think that that is really significant assistance to people. We said we were going to wipe 20 per cent off student debt, and that's the bill that we have in front of us today. It's really going to help young Australians who are just starting out in life.

In addition, with this bill, we are making the other reforms that I've already spoken about, which are the increase to the minimum repayment threshold and the marginal repayment reform, which Professor Bruce Chapman, the architect of HECS, has said is the most significant reform since the system was introduced. So we are making significant reform and we are doing what we said we were going to do. We have a bill in front of the parliament that the people of Australia have voted for and supported. In relation to further recommendations from the universities accord—a big body of work that we did that is more than one budget and more than one MYEFO but a blueprint for the future of higher education—we look forward to working with Professor O'Kane and ATEC to continue to progress those recommendations.