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

Thanks, Senator Pocock. Well, we are here in the chamber today with a bill that cuts student debt by 20 per cent, that cuts $16 billion of student debt on top of the $3 billion in student debt that we already cut. We are proud of the commitment that we took to the election to do that. We're proud to have this bill in front of the chamber today, and we look forward to the support of the chamber to assist students to have their HECS debt cut by an average of $5½ thousand a year for the graduate who has around $27,000 in debt. At the same time, we are also raising the minimum repayment threshold, from $54,000 to $67,000 a year, to allow students to start earning a reasonable wage before they have to start repaying their student debt. Of course, we want people to see their higher education paying off for them before they have to start paying off their HECS debt.

You talk about reform, Senator Pocock. Again, we are making one of the most significant reforms in how HECS repayments are made. This reform around a marginal repayment system where HECS repayments are calculated on just the proportion of income above the threshold is really significant—again, the most significant reform to HECS that we've seen since it was introduced to help people get an education here in this country. In relation to further work, there is always more work to do. We are implementing the recommendations of the universities accord.