2018-03-26
The Australian Greens will continue to fight the Liberal Government’s harsh university cuts by opposing the Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan Sustainability Bill 2018) being debated in the House today.
“This bill seeks to lower the HECS/HELP repayment threshold, forcing students to pay more on lower salaries when they graduate, making it harder for them to get ahead in the early stages of their careers,” Greens higher education spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“HECS/HELP repayment thresholds are linked to wages by design. If the Government’s $65 billion tax cuts to corporations and big banks were really going to stimulate wage growth, they wouldn’t be pursuing students to repay HECS/HELP on lower salaries.
“This Government is only interested in making it harder for students, in a world where we need young people as well-prepared as they can be for the jobs of tomorrow. If anything, we should be making university education more accessible, not pushing policy that will disproportionately affect young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, people with disabilities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Cost of living is crippling young people who struggle to balance work, study, bills, rent and putting food on the table. The Government must wake up and end the attack on these young people, who simply want to get ahead in life.”
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