NUS strongly encourages Labor to abandon support for zombie budget measures

Today the shadow treasurer Chris Bowen announced that the Labor Party would be supporting a raft of unpopular zombie measures from Tony Abbott’s first budget as well as some other unnecessary saving measures that’ll hurt students. These measures included lowering the minimum HELP loan repayment threshold to $50,638 from the current $54,126, ending the HELP benefits for those studying a range of degrees including maths, science, nursing and education and the indexation of programs under the Australian Research Council Act and the Higher Education Support Act.

“Labor’s backflip on these policies are leaving students high and dry. With the Labor Party supporting these measures, we’ll see more students paying back more debt, earlier. That has the effect of discouraging many young people from studying” said NUS President Sinead Colee.

“At a time when we need to be increasing the accessibility of education, the lowering of the minimum repayment threshold will do the opposite. This will not be a popular policy with students” said NUS President Sinead Colee

Women in particular will be hit hard by these new measures with women graduates in Australia still suffering from the gender pay gap. The Grattan institute outlined the issues of women who do no repay their debts as a key reason to lower the threshold when they proposed it earlier this year to $42,000.

“Lowering the repayment threshold unfairly targets women graduates who are already disadvantaged. If we want to deal with women’s rates of repayment we should focus on the structural challenges they face, such as the gender pay gap, not find a way to game the system” said NUS President Sinead Colee.

This decision comes during a crisis time in higher education with the government’s unpopular plans to increase the student debt load by 20% still on the table amongst other cuts and fee hike measures. The government also continues to champion its flagship program that’ll see a two tiered system of university degrees.

“We are seeing a difficult choice for students when it comes to who they should vote for in this year’s election. This government has not withdrawn it’s support for increasing the student load of debt by 20% and raising the cap on fees. We are still encouraging students to be putting the Liberal’s last as they have the most dangerous policies for students”

NUS is running a campaign in marginal electorates across Australia with the aim of informing students and their parents about the policies this election around higher education.

“We’ve been getting out in the electorates and talking face to face with students and their parents about the issues surrounding higher education this election and so far we’ve had really positive responses” Said NUS President Sinead Colee.
Sinead Colee National President | National Union of Students