A selfie with university students posted by Anthony Albanese has spectacularly backfired on the Prime Minister, accused of “buying votes”.
Albanese posted a photo of himself posing with three students to remind Australians that his government planned to erase more than $3 billion in HECS debt.
The Labor Party has committed to changing the HECS indexation rate to compare it with the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Index, whichever is lower.
A student’s HECS debt would be indexed at four per cent instead of seven per cent in 2024 and the 2023 indexed rate of 7.1 per cent would fall back to 3.2 per cent.
“We’re eliminating $3 billion in student debt for over 3 million Australians,” Albanese captioned the happy snap posted to her social media on Tuesday.
Albanese posted a photo of himself posing with three university students to remind Australians that his government planned to erase more than $3 billion in HECS debt.
The photo was quickly inundated with comments accusing the Prime Minister of trying to “buy” votes, while others complained that it would be taxpayers who would foot the bill.
“Eliminating student debt will not convince the youth leaders of tomorrow to vote for you,” commented feminist author Clementine Ford.
“Student debt simply will not be unfairly indexed to the ridiculous inflation rate your government has failed to keep down,” wrote a second.
‘How stupid do you think we are? Nobody buys your nonsense.
A third commented: ‘The debt is not “erased”, it is simply transferred to the taxpayer, without asking. “If those kids knew their future kids would pay for it, they wouldn’t be smiling.”
“We’re eliminating $3 billion in student debt to buy over 3 million Australian votes,” wrote another.
The Australian Tax Office confirmed on June 1 that HECS debt was still indexed at 4.7 per cent instead of four per cent.
Under Labour’s pledge to eliminate debt, the average amount of money students owe the ATO for their HECS and HELP debts will be reduced by $1,200.
Students with larger debts, such as those with $50,000 in HELP debt, will see their payments reduced by $2,245.
The change will apply to all HELP, VET Student Loans, Australian Learning Support Loans and Student Support Loans accounts that existed on June 1 last year.
“There are a number of areas where we need to do a lot better for the younger generation and HECS is one of them,” Albanese said at the time.
Australians owed a combined $78.2 billion in HECS-HELP debt as of 2023.
The indexation rate reached a whopping 7.1 percent last year, while inflation reached an annual rate of 7 percent, during the first three months of 2023.
Albanese was accused of canceling student debt to “buy votes” in the upcoming federal election
In May, Treasurer Jim Chalmers described the indexation system as “flawed” and said it subjected younger Australians to unfair tax pressures.
Dr Chalmers announced in the Budget that $427 million would be spent over four years to provide financial support for students undertaking compulsory practical placements in critical sectors such as nursing, midwifery, teaching and social services.
Previously, students in those sectors had to do weeks of full-time unpaid work to earn their degree.
This meant that students could not commit to their paid jobs and earn money to cover basic services such as rent, electricity and food.
HECS and HELP are loans that students can take out to pay their tuition, and the amount funded by the government will need to be repaid.
Domestic students are eligible to access the program for Commonwealth financial support.