Latest news with #TammyTyrell
Herald Sun
a day ago
- Business
- Herald Sun
Billions slashed from student debt, HECS as Labor election promise passes parliament
Labor's key election promise to slash student debts by 20 per cent has passed parliament. More than 3 million Australians are set to see their debt reduced, with the average debt of about $27,600 receiving about $5520 in relief. The debts will be reduced automatically by the Australian Taxation Office over the coming months, with calculations backdated to the amount owed on June 1, 2025. The Opposition benches were notably empty as the Bill passed parliament on Thursday morning, with Labor, Greens and crossbench senators, David Pocock, Tammy Tyrell, and Fatima Payman supporting the motion. Education Minister Jason Clare said the promise was important to 'young Australians' who 'don't always see something for them on the ballot paper'. However he urged patience with the ATO now required to 'write about 50,000 lines of code to implement' the policy and 'make sure that they get it right'. 'But this is now going to happen. It's guaranteed and it will be backdated to 1 June this year, before indexation happened,' he told reporters. 'We're doing that for a reason – to make sure that we honour the promise we made to the Australian people in full, that we would cut their student debt by 20 per cent and today the parliament has acted and I'm glad to see that they have.' One Nation senators Malcolm Roberts, Warwick Stacey and Tyron Whitten opposed the Bill. Standing up to speak after the Bill passed, Greens senator Sarah Hanson lashed the lack of Coalition presence in the Chamber, however was admonished by Senate president Sue Lines. 'I'd just like to draw attention to the state of the Opposition benches in the last 15 minutes. They seem to be invisible, missing,' said Senator Hanson-Young before she was cut off by Senator Lines. In response, the President said: 'This is not a time for a statement. It's not appropriate for a quorum because there are senators in here and the practice in this place is that we don't comment on whether senators are in the chamber or not'. Speaking broadly about Coalition co-operation, Mr Clare thanked Sussan Ley, and said 'this is a different Parliament and a different Opposition Leader'. While the Coalition didn't directly support the legislation passing, they also didn't vote to overturn it, like it did on Labor's $5-a-week tax cut legislation, which passed just before Anthony Albanese called the May election. 'Australians, I think, want us to work together on the big things that matter to help Australians, and particularly on the childcare matter where it could have been very different,' he said. 'The decision of Susan and Jonno (Duniam), the Shadow Minister, to work constructively with us, I take my hat off to them. This is what Australians want of us.' The Bill also contained measures which will increase the minimum income repayment threshold before Australians begin to pay back their student loans from $54,000 to $67,000. Rates of repayments will also be lowered. Originally published as Billions to be slashed from student debts, as Labor's key election promise passes parliament
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Billions to be slashed from student debt
Labor's key election promise to slash student debts by 20 per cent has passed parliament. More than 3 million Australians are set to see their debt reduced, with the average debt of about $27,600 receiving about $5520 in relief. The debts will be reduced automatically by the Australian Taxation Office over the coming months, with calculations backdated to the amount owed on June 1, 2025. The Opposition benches were notably empty as the Bill passed parliament on Thursday morning, with Labor, Greens and crossbench senators, David Pocock, Tammy Tyrell, and Fatima Payman supporting the motion. Education Minister Jason Clare said the promise was important to 'young Australians' who 'don't always see something for them on the ballot paper'. However he urged patience with the ATO now required to 'write about 50,000 lines of code to implement' the policy and 'make sure that they get it right'. 'But this is now going to happen. It's guaranteed and it will be backdated to 1 June this year, before indexation happened,' he told reporters. 'We're doing that for a reason – to make sure that we honour the promise we made to the Australian people in full, that we would cut their student debt by 20 per cent and today the parliament has acted and I'm glad to see that they have.' Labor's promise to slash thousands from students debts has passed parliament. NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar Credit: NewsWire One Nation senators Malcolm Roberts, Warwick Stacey and Tyron Whitten opposed the Bill. Standing up to speak after the Bill passed, Greens senator Sarah Hanson lashed the lack of Coalition presence in the Chamber, however was admonished by Senate president Sue Lines. 'I'd just like to draw attention to the state of the Opposition benches in the last 15 minutes. They seem to be invisible, missing,' said Senator Hanson-Young before she was cut off by Senator Lines. In response, the President said: 'This is not a time for a statement. It's not appropriate for a quorum because there are senators in here and the practice in this place is that we don't comment on whether senators are in the chamber or not'. The Bill also contained measures which will increase the minimum income repayment threshold before Australians begin to pay back their student loans from $54,000 to $67,000. Rates of repayments will also be lowered. More to come
News.com.au
02-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Labor under fire for HECS/HELP indexation timing
Aussies keen to see their student loan debts cut by 20 per cent as promised by Labor in the federal election may not be so happy when they check their accounts. Since Sunday, students with HELP or HECS loans would have seen their debts increase by 3.2 per cent as indexation kicked in. Indexation serves to adjust student loans according to inflation – but the timing at which they are applied has been heavily criticised for years. 'HELP debts aren't actually very helpful,' independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrell said. 'Today, students are watching their debts go up, with the money they've paid through the year nowhere in sight. 'Banks reduce your loan before charging interest. Credit unions do too. Just not the government who pretend someone's repayments don't exist. It's costing students thousands of dollars all because Labor is too lazy to fix its accounting. 'Labor's HELP debt changes are one-off sugar hits. If they're genuine about making a difference for students, they could fix this rigged system when parliament returns. Just count someone's payments before interest is charged. 'It doesn't make sense to me that someone's debt is indexed before taking into account the thousands of dollars they've paid throughout the year,' she said. 'Imagine if banks did that with your home loan – took your money, charged you interest but the repayments don't come off the outstanding balance. I reckon people would be pretty upset about that, so why do we expect students to put up with it? 'A student's HECS-HELP debt should be indexed after the yearly repayments are taken off. 'No matter what the indexation rate is, it's not a fair system when you're indexing badly. We need to change the timing, not the rate.' Education Minister Jason Clare said Labor's policy to reduce HECS debts by 20 per cent would be backdated to June 1 before indexation was applied. 'It will be the first Bill that we introduce into the parliament when parliament sits for the first time in the last week of July,' Mr Clare told ABC radio. 'What that legislation will do is cut everyone's debt by 20 per cent and backdate that cut. And that's important because every 1st of June in every year HECS debts or student debts get indexed. 'That 20 per cent cut will come into effect before that indexation effectively happens to make sure that we honour the promise we made and we cut everyone's debt by 20 per cent. The Australian Universities Accord Final Report 2024 determined that the indexation should be applied later in the year after compulsory repayments made during the previous financial year were deducted from a student's balance.
West Australian
02-06-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Labor under fire for HECS/HELP indexation timing
Aussies keen to see their student loan debts cut by 20 per cent as promised by Labor in the federal election may not be so happy when they check their accounts. Since Sunday, students with HELP or HECS loans would have seen their debts increase by 3.2 per cent as indexation kicked in. Indexation serves to adjust student loans according to inflation – but the timing at which they are applied has been heavily criticised for years. 'HELP debts aren't actually very helpful,' independent Tasmanian senator Tammy Tyrell said. 'Today, students are watching their debts go up, with the money they've paid through the year nowhere in sight. 'Banks reduce your loan before charging interest. Credit unions do too. Just not the government who pretend someone's repayments don't exist. It's costing students thousands of dollars all because Labor is too lazy to fix its accounting. 'Labor's HELP debt changes are one-off sugar hits. If they're genuine about making a difference for students, they could fix this rigged system when parliament returns. Just count someone's payments before interest is charged. 'It doesn't make sense to me that someone's debt is indexed before taking into account the thousands of dollars they've paid throughout the year,' she said. 'Imagine if banks did that with your home loan – took your money, charged you interest but the repayments don't come off the outstanding balance. I reckon people would be pretty upset about that, so why do we expect students to put up with it? 'A student's HECS-HELP debt should be indexed after the yearly repayments are taken off. 'No matter what the indexation rate is, it's not a fair system when you're indexing badly. We need to change the timing, not the rate.' Education Minister Jason Clare said Labor's policy to reduce HECS debts by 20 per cent would be backdated to June 1 before indexation was applied. 'It will be the first Bill that we introduce into the parliament when parliament sits for the first time in the last week of July,' Mr Clare told ABC radio. 'What that legislation will do is cut everyone's debt by 20 per cent and backdate that cut. And that's important because every 1st of June in every year HECS debts or student debts get indexed. 'That 20 per cent cut will come into effect before that indexation effectively happens to make sure that we honour the promise we made and we cut everyone's debt by 20 per cent. The Australian Universities Accord Final Report 2024 determined that the indexation should be applied later in the year after compulsory repayments made during the previous financial year were deducted from a student's balance.
