STATEMENTS

Mr ABDO (Calwell) (20:59): At the last election, the Albanese Labor government made a promise to millions of Australians carrying student debt. We said, 'We'll cut your debt by 20 per cent to help ease the burden of getting the education you need to reach your full potential.' This legislation, the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025, delivers on that promise, and I'd like to acknowledge and thank the Prime Minister and the Minister for Education for the mountain of work they've done delivering this important structural reform—a promise backed by the Australian people.

There's a reason why the government has put forward these changes before the parliament, and I'm proud that this is the very first piece of legislation introduced to this parliament. All over the country, Australians were telling us that the current student debt situation was weighing heavily on them. Too many Australians felt like the cost of their education was making it hard to get ahead.

They told us that they felt they were falling behind before they'd even started their working lives. Delivering on the promise to slash their student debt burden could not wait. This legislation shows that the Albanese Labor government understands that getting the education you need to pursue your dreams shouldn't come with a price tag so big that it feels out of reach.

Across the country, the average student debt today is about $27,600. This legislation will cut that debt by over $5,000. In my community of Calwell, there are approximately 23,000 people with a student debt at an average of around $28,000 each.

I note the previous member's comments about the inner city. We're not the inner city in Calwell. We're working-class areas, and our numbers speak for themselves.

That represents a huge financial mountain to scale for every one of those students. That mountain becomes easier to climb thanks to this legislation. Let's be clear about one thing.

The prospect of building a large debt to access the education you want acts as a deterrent for so many prospective students from communities like mine. It says to people, 'Your dreams come at a cost.' It reinforces old fashioned notions—that high-education aspiration is for others and that they shouldn't dream bigger, because the price is too high. For generations of people from my area, university and further education were seen as something for others, or we were told it should be for others.

That's not because people of Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park, Greenvale, Mickleham, Meadow Heights and elsewhere in my electorate were incapable and untalented. It was because the cost for some made that path too expensive to explore. One of the reasons I am here as the member for Calwell is to help change that structural disadvantage that still exists for many working people.

By reducing student loan debt by 20 per cent, we are telling those same people that we encourage their aspiration, that we back it, that we want them to succeed, that we understand that their further education can be the pathway to a better future for them, their families and our community, that we support them and that, in fact, we need them. Just as importantly, this legislation not only reduces the level of student debt; it raises the minimum amount you must earn before you must start making those repayments.

It changes the current system from being a flat payment structure to a marginal repayment system that considers how much you earn before determining how much you pay. Currently, when you start earning $54,435, you start repaying your HECS debt. For many people this means that as soon as they step into their first real job, they're immediately seeing their wages clipped to pay back their debt.

This legislation takes that threshold to $67,000. The current system means you pay according to your entire income. Under these changes, you'll pay a percentage of your wage above the minimum repayment threshold.

This fundamentally changes the impact of debt repayment on people starting out in their careers. For someone who earns around $70,000 a year, it means that the minimum repayments they make fall by about $1,300 a year. That's money in the pockets for people who might be trying to save for a home deposit, for a car or for starting a family.

Often all these things start to occur as soon as you're in a position to repay that debt. It provides important cost-of-living relief right at the time that people are building that future for themselves. It's a change that understands the pressures people face as they start out on their journey, and it says, 'We get it'—that this government will always back you in.

That's something that can't be said for those on the other side. In fact, it was the opposition leader who said, in relation to the important Labor initiative of free TAFE, that Australians wouldn't value something unless they paid for it. It's a statement that tells you everything about how out of touch those sitting opposite really are.

They just don't get it. Australians don't see a fairer, more accessible, more affordable education training system as a handout. They see it as an opportunity to contribute, as a chance to build a stronger future for themselves, their families and their community.

At a time when Australia urgently needs to build a stronger, more resilient and more capable skilled workforce, it is the Albanese Labor government that has a plan to help make that a reality. The numbers prove just how wrong the opposition is. Since the Albanese Labor government delivered on its promise to introduce free TAFE, we have seen more than 650,000 enrolments across the country.

There have already been 170,000 courses completed. Australians are voting with their feet to enrol in these courses. They value the opportunity to learn.

They value the chance to be skilled and reskilled to be ready for the jobs of today and of the future. They want the better future that the Liberal Party clearly thinks they don't deserve. To know the price of everything and the value of nothing seems to be the operating model of the Liberal Party.

Whilst those on the other side ignore the message the Australian people are sending them, we're getting on with it. The Albanese Labor government is also ramping up fee-free uni-ready courses, with $350 million in additional Commonwealth grant scheme funding over four years. These courses are vital in helping people prepare for a university course.

Whether you're taking on further study as a mature student, returning to study after a long break, or just starting out and needing help, these courses offer more students a pathway into higher education. Once again, it's a hand up, not a handout. And there is more to do.

In 2026, the Albanese Labor government will change the way universities are funded, with the aim of helping more people from communities like mine and those in the regions to get a chance to go to university and providing them with the support that they need. This legislation is a reminder once again that, when it comes to the hard graft of nation-building, it is the Australian Labor Party that does the work to get it done, because what is more important in building the future of a strong, capable, versatile country than investing in our greatest resource—our people, their education and their skills?

These reforms are a key part of that investment in Australia's future, a future that all Australians should have a stake in, regardless of what postcode they are from.