
Millions to win from huge change to this debt
Labor is set to introduce legislation as parliament returns this week that will wipe $16bn in student debt for approximately three million Australians.
It will target loans including HELP debt, VET loans and apprenticeship loans. The government said the average debt-holder will have a $5520 reduction. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia
According to calculations from the government someone with the average HELP debt of $27,600 will have $5520 wiped from their outstanding loans.
People at the upper end of debt, exceeding $60,000, could see a reduction of more than $12,000.
The legislation, if it passes, will also raised the minimum repayment threshold from $54,000 to $67,000, meaning low-income earners will not have to start paying back their debt.
Following the passage debt-holders will not have to do anything to get the reduction, it will be applied by the Australian Taxation Office automatically.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the change would 'take a lot of weight off the shoulders' for recent graduates
'You don't start paying off your university degree until your degree starts to pay off for you,' he said. Education Minister Jason Clare said the reform will 'take a lot of weight off' young people. Canberra. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia
The reform was first promised in November 2024, well before the election, after the government changed the way student loans were indexed.
At the time this brought down student debts by about $3bn.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the 20 per cent reduction following the indexation reform as a pitch for his government to make the education system 'fairer and affordable for every Australian'.
'No matter where you live or how much your parents earn, my Government will work to ensure the doors of opportunity are open for you,' Mr Albanese said in November.
Now, with the new Parliament beginning on Tuesday, the government is promising the 20 per cent cut will be the first thing it does.
'We promised cutting student debt would be the first thing we did back in Parliament,' Mr Albanese said.
'And this week we're introducing the legislation to make it happen.
'Because getting an education shouldn't mean a lifetime of debt.' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the reduction would be the first thing his new government does. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia
The legislation will be introduced on Tuesday, but the government will need the support of either the Greens of the Coalition to get the it through the Senate.
This means it will likely be a few weeks before it actually comes into effect.
Both the Greens and the Coalition have indicated they are unlikely to block the bill, but both have voiced concerns.
Liberal education spokesman Jonno Duniam told the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday that Australians 'spoke pretty clearly at the last election' about this key Labor policy.
'We're not really in business of standing in the way of cost-of-living relief,' Senator Duniam said.
'We'll go through our process but I expect this will pass the parliament.' Senator Jonno Duniam indicated the Coalition would likely help pass the bill. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia
For their part, the Greens requested the Parliamentary Library analyse how much the debt reforms will reduce balances since 2022.
It found that a student who had a $30,000 debt in 2022 would have a $27,619 debt after the 20 per cent cut, meaning it would only be a 7.9 per cent cut on that 2022 level.
This is because student debt increases each year relative to inflation.
The Greens position is that it wants all student debt to be wiped and free university and TAFE to be reintroduced.
Greens higher education spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi said that 'one-off debt reduction won't fix the enormous burden' of university fees and outstanding student debt.
'Of course any student debt relief is better than none, but we are demanding all student debt be wiped and a return to free uni and TAFE, funded by taxing big corporations to pay their fair share,' she said. Greens higher education spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi said the change will not fix 'the enormous burden' of student debt. NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui Credit: News Corp Australia
Student debt massively increased since the previous Coalition government introduced its 'Job-Ready Graduates' scheme in 2021 which increased the costs students have to pay for degrees that were purportedly less desirable.
This was designed to incentivise students to study degrees in fields such as science and engineering.
In practice there was only a marginal reduction in the number of students studying arts degrees, but the costs for those courses increased as much as 140 per cent – massively increasing the debt burden for some students.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
YouTube to be included in social media ban for under 16s after exemption reversed
Children and teenagers will be barred from logging in to YouTube under the incoming social media ban for under 16s after the government reversed its plan to grant the video sharing site an exemption. Rules of how the ban will operate are set to be presented to parliament on Wednesday, including details of the types of platforms that will not be captured, such as those primarily concerned with gaming, messaging, health and education. It comes days after Google, the parent company of YouTube, threatened legal action if the government scrapped its previously flagged exemption on the basis of the platform's educational uses. Over the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a decision on whether YouTube would be included was yet to be made — despite the draft rules naming the platform as exempt — and that the government would not be influenced by threats from social media companies. "Our government is making it clear — we stand on the side of families," Mr Albanese said in a statement on Tuesday. "Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms, so I'm calling time on it." YouTube differs from other popular social media sites in that it doesn't require users to have an account to access most features and young people will still be able to use the site in a logged-out state after the world-leading laws come into force in December. But including YouTube in the list of social media platforms covered by the ban — which already includes apps like TikTok and Instagram — means under 16s won't be able to access age-restricted content on the video-sharing site. Former communications minister Michelle Rowland initially flagged that YouTube was likely to be exempt from the laws in November last year. But the proposed carve out was thrown into question last month when eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant — who is tasked with implementing the laws — wrote to new Communications Minister Anika Wells formally recommending it be scrapped. She cited eSafety research that found young people used YouTube more than any other social media platform and it was where they were most likely to experience harm online. "When we asked where they were experiencing harm and the kinds of harms they were experiencing, the most prevalent place where young Australians experienced harm was on YouTube — almost 37 per cent," Dr Inman Grant said. "This ranges from misogynistic content to hateful material, to violent fighting videos, online challenges, disordered eating, suicidal ideation." She also argued that YouTube had the characteristics of a platform that should fall under the ban and cautioned against naming specific platforms for carve outs. The platform's competitors had separately campaigned against its exclusion, accusing the government of making a "sweetheart deal" in private submissions. YouTube has previously argued that it is a video streaming platform, rather than a social media site, and therefore should not be captured by the ban, citing evidence that it is widely used in classrooms and by parents. Under the new laws, which are due to come into force on December 10, social media companies will face fines of up to almost $50 million for failing to take "reasonable steps" to bar under 16s from their platforms. "There is no one perfect solution when it comes to keeping young Australians safer online — but the social media minimum age will make a significantly positive difference to their wellbeing," Communications Minister Anika Wells said in a statement. "There's a place for social media, but there's not a place for predatory algorithms targeting children."


SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Confirmed: YouTube included in Australia's teen social media ban despite legal threats
The government has announced after months of speculation, it will include YouTube in its looming social media ban for children, risking a potentially bitter legal battle with Google. The online video service will be classified as an "age-restricted social media platform" under the legislation, alongside Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok and X. The platforms will face penalties of up to $49.5 million if they fail to block sign-ups and active accounts belonging to users under-16 from December 10. SBS News understands the restrictions placed on YouTube will allow the YouTube Kids platform to operate, and minors are also permitted to watch videos on the website in a logged-out state or under parental supervision. But under-16s will not be allowed to have active YouTube accounts or subscribe to YouTube channels. "There's a place for social media, but there's not a place for predatory algorithms targeting children," Communications Minister Annika Wells said. "There is no one perfect solution when it comes to keeping young Australians safer online – but the social media minimum age will make a significantly positive difference to their wellbeing." The decision to add YouTube to the list of impacted services follows advice from eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. Online gaming platforms, messaging services like WhatsApp, health and education services will be spared. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the decision was a signal "we stand on the side of families." "Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms so I'm calling time on it," he said. In the hours before the decision was made public Google (YouTube's parent company) ramped up its lobbying efforts, with an elaborate event staged in Parliament House on Wednesday afternoon. This week Google wrote to the Communications Minister, asking her "to uphold the integrity of the legislative process and protect the age-appropriate experiences and safeguards we provide for young Australians." "YouTube is a video sharing platform, not a social media service, that offers benefit and value to younger Australians," a YouTube spokesperson said on Sunday. Inman Grant in June rejected claims the decision would impact educators and schools. "There is nothing in the legislation that prevents educators with their own accounts from continuing to incorporate school-approved educational content on YouTube or any other service just as they do now," she told the National Press Club.

Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
YouTube Kids to escape social media ban for children under 16
YouTube Kids will escape the federal government's teen social media ban that could serve as a model for other sites to keep offering their products, and ads, to children under the age of 16. The main YouTube platform will join Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X and Snapchat in being caught by the ban, which is set to come into effect on December 10, after the government backflipped on its earlier plan to exclude Google's video streaming site. The government is expected to table rules in parliament on Wednesday to set which online services will be captured by the laws that were enacted with bipartisan support last year in an effort to protect children from online bullying and body image issues. Sites that are primarily intended for education, messaging, health or online gaming will be exempt. YouTube's inclusion in the ban sets the government up for a possible fight after the platform's owner, Google, sent a letter to Communications Minister Anika Wells threatening to sue if it was not given an exemption. Loading Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said restricting YouTube from use by children under 16 meant his government stood on the side of Australian families. 'Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms, so I'm calling time on it,' he said in a statement. 'Social media is doing social harm to our children, and I want Australian parents to know that we have their backs.'