Greens leader to launch $46.5bn free uni plan in Prime Minister’s electorate

The Greens will push Labor to sign up to a $46.5bn cash splurge on free university and TAFE in the event of a hung parliament, amid warnings a post-election deal between the two parties will lead to higher deficits.

Greens leader Adam Bandt will use the announcement of his free TAFE and University policy to accuse Anthony Albanese of profiting off a system now inaccessible to many young Australians. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

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The Greens will push Labor to sign up to a $46.5bn cash splurge on free university and TAFE in the event of a hung parliament, amid warnings a post-election deal between the left-wing party and Labor will lead to higher deficits.

Greens leader Adam Bandt will appear in Anthony Albanese’s electorate of Grayndler on Monday to announce the tertiary education policy alongside deputy leader and higher education spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi – signposting that its institution will be a central demand should the Greens enter negotiations with Labor for minority government support after the election.

The policy is the latest in a string of demands targeting young, metropolitan voters after it announced a plan in November to forgive all student debt. Estimates for the policy were provided by the Parliamentary Budget Office based on “uncertain and sensitive” assumptions about national uptake and course pricing. It would bake in a multibillion-dollar rise to the annual budget baseline and cost $46.5bn over the forward estimates, which the Greens argue would be offset by their “Robin Hood” corporate tax policy.

The Greens have previously said they will push for dental coverage in Medicare and reform to property tax regimes such as negative gearing if the Prime Minister needs their support in a hung parliament.

“The Prime Minister benefited from free university education but he refuses to give young people the same opportunity,” Mr Bandt said.

“Young people are being crushed by increasing student debt while they struggle with paying rent or affording the basics, in a housing and cost-of-living crisis.

Greens leader Adam Bandt with deputy leader and higher education spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi. Picture: NewsWire/Gary Ramage

“In a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to have a good-quality education. One in three big corporations pay zero tax. We should tax big corporations and billionaires to fund what we all need, like free tertiary education.”

Alongside their costings, the Greens released a series of estimates for the educational fees five Labor members who received free tertiary education would have incurred had they been students in today’s university system.

Mr Albanese’s University of Sydney Bachelor of Economics would have cost $50,992. If Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus were to study a Melbourne University Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor – equivalent to the Bachelor of Law he received – it would set him back $89,000 today.

The Greens’ report also singled out Trade Minister Don Farrell, whose Adelaide University Bachelor of Laws now costs $63,700; Transport Minister Catherine King’s $18,508 RMIT/Philip Institute Bachelor of Arts (Social Work), and; Richmond MP Justine Elliot’s $26,165 Queensland University Bachelor of Arts.

Mr Bandt will personalise his broadside against Labor further by launching the policy in Mr Albanese’s backyard.

Greens candidate Hannah Thomas is taking on Mr Albanese in this election. While the Greens were the main opposition in Grayndler in 2022, Mr Albanese enjoys an exceptionally safe margin, having carved out a 17.1 per cent two-party-preferred hold on the seat at that election.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese enjoys an exceptionally safe margin in Grayndler. Picture: Jason Edwards/NewsWire

The PBO estimated that for the forward estimates period the policy would carve $26.5bn from the fiscal balance, $33.6bn from the underlying cash balance and $11.5bn from the headline cash balance, with a number of stipulations.

Its estimate is built on the assumption that free, universal tertiary education would only drive a 1 per cent increase in university enrolments and a 5 per cent increase to TAFE enrolments above the natural rise to uptake.

It also assumes the growth and demography of Australia’s university sector would be otherwise consistent, and that Education Department resourcing would remain the same, given that tasks related to debt planning and collection would fall away in place of more staff assisting with enrolment and logistics.

“The financial implications of this proposal are very uncertain and sensitive to the key assumptions,” the PBO estimate reads. “Especially around course enrolments and fees, degree/certification duration, course completion patterns, and behavioural responses by students and educational providers.”

The Albanese government has also campaigned on the promise of reducing student debt, wiping a total $3bn during its first term and cutting another 20 per cent of the national debt should it be re-elected. It would also slow repayment rates and raise the minimum income from which HECS-HELP repayments are first deducted to $67,000/year.

The Coalition’s higher education policy focuses on reforming the contents of university courses to avoid “indoctrination” and “ideological agendas” skewing syllabuses.

“Anthony Albanese and his ministers who had the benefit of free university education have pulled up the ladder behind them and condemned generations of their constituents to be saddled with a lifetime of student debt,” Senator Faruqi said.

“Would he think it fair to start his working life in the red?”