Anthony Albanese kicked off his 2025 election campaign at a rally in Adelaide yesterday where he made his third major promise to students in the last few days.
Albanese has committed to make 100,000 fee-free TAFE places available every year if re-elected.
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The PM said free tafe will result in more tradies to build homes, more personnel in child and aged care as well as more opportunities for Australians to train and retrain in a changing economy.
This comes following the federal government’s announcement over the weekend that it will slash HECS debts by 20 per cent if it wins the next election.
It’s understood around $16 billion in existing student debt will be cut in June next year. For the average HECS debt of $27,600 that’s a $5,520 reduction.
The reforms would also raise the threshold for repayment from $54,000 to $67,000.
The PM says it will ensure a “better and fairer” education system, the government has been accused by the Coalition of trying to spend its way back into power.
While one Tertiary leader says he welcomes the move but they don’t go far enough.
Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor, George Williams, said the proposed reforms were “extremely welcome” but do not adequately address the cause of Australia’s “broken higher education system”.
“We continue to call for immediate action to deal with the root of the debt spiral problem,” he said.
“The system for setting student fees in the first place is broken and deeply unfair. Today’s changes do nothing for new university students facing inflated fees.”
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