With the May budget looming, the Labor government must provide student debt relief and scrap indexation.
Parliamentary Library projections prepared for the Greens show nearly 3 million people owing student debt will likely be slugged with a debt increase of between 4.2 – 4.8% on June 1. This will be the second highest HECS-HELP indexation in over 10 years, following an increase of 7.1% last year.
The projection shows that student debts are set to increase by an astonishing 16% or $12.3 billion under the Albanese Labor Government, unless the government provides desperately needed student debt relief in the upcoming budget.
Quotes attributed to Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and spokesperson for Education:
“Just talking about the cost-of-living crisis while ignoring the heavy burden of student debt is not going to ease the pain for anyone. In the May budget, Labor must scrap indexation on student debt.
“It’s no wonder that young voters are deserting Labor in droves, with the Albanese Government having presided over the steepest increases of student debt in recent history. Labor refused demands from the Greens to protect students from huge debt increases last year, but there is still time to stop the massive indexation hit coming again this June.
“Student debts are spiralling out of control, and the Labor government is sitting on its hands as it oversees an astonishing increase of 16% in their first term of government.
“This alarming trajectory shows a clear failure of the current system and demands immediate action from the Labor government. No more kicking the can down the road.
“Even the ‘best case’ scenario will see student debts increase by a whopping 4.2% this year alone, adding a thousand dollars to average debt which already takes years to pay off. A worst case scenario would see a student debt increase of almost 5% in June, for an almost 17% debt increase in Labor’s first term of government.
“Student debt can’t be fixed because student debt shouldn’t exist. But at the very least, it shouldn’t be increasing at such a ridiculous rate.
“Financial costs should never be a barrier to education. Yet the reality is, young people today are rethinking university after witnessing years of skyrocketing student debt under the Albanese government.
“University and TAFE should be free and all student debt wiped. But let’s start with abolishing indexation and providing some relief to people being weighed down by an ever ballooning debt.”
