Education Minister admits student debt cuts will benefit teals, Greens

Jason Clare says Labor’s election pledge to cut student debt by 20 per cent will benefit constituents in hotly contested independent and Greens seats.

Jason Clare during question time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Education Minister Jason Clare says Labor’s election pledge to cut student debt by 20 per cent will benefit it in hotly contested independent and Greens seats, during the final question time of the ­parliamentary term before an election is called.

In a pointed message to a crossbench that could have significant power in a post-election hung parliament, Mr Clare said the slashing of $16m in student debt would save voters $5000 on average; he singled out the teal- held electorates of Wentworth and Curtin and three Greens-held Queensland seats as being set to benefit the most.

He also referenced an analysis by The Australian of how the policy would impact average HELP debts in electorates across the country, which found that two-thirds of the promised cut to student debt would likely go to voters in Labor, Greens and teal seats.

Wentworth MP Allegra Spender. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers/The Australian.

During question time on Thursday, the Labor frontbench ramped up its attacks on Peter Dutton over his opposition to tax cuts unveiled in Tuesday’s budget, tax deductible lunch policy and his decision to purchase shares in the GFC before a government bailout.

Amid expectations that Anthony Albanese will call an election on Friday, Mr Clare said the opposition wanted to “jack up taxes – we want to lighten your load”.

“The Liberal Party are opposed to all of that,” he said. “In fact, when we announced this policy, (opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor) said ‘There are no free lunches in economics’.

“Remember that? Turns out now they’re going to jack up your taxes to pay for free lunches for bosses. You’ve got to think for yourself – how ordinary is that?

“I know the Opposition Leader spent a lot of time checking out the All Ordinaries in the GFC.

“If he wants to check out the All Ords right now, he should just check behind him. They’re all ­ordinary.”

Mr Clare singled out the eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth, held by teal MP Allegra Spender, as a key electorate that would benefit from the policy, with 23,600 people saving $6600 on average. He also pointed to teal MP Kate Chaney’s electorate of Curtin in WA, where 22,000 ­people will benefit and save about $5800 on average.

He also referred to the once-safe Labor seat of Fowler, now held by independent Dai Le since 2022, where 23,000 people see their HECS debt cut by $6000 on average.

“So from western Sydney to Western Australia, there are millions of Aussies who are going to save thousands of bucks,” Mr Clare said.

He said the policy impacting three million Australians would benefit 34,000 people in the seat of Brisbane, held by Greens MP Stephen Bates, saving them $6500 on average.

He also said the pledge would benefit 31,000 people in Griffith, held by Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather, reducing debts by $6400 on average.

Some 27,000 voters in Ryan, held by Elizabeth Watson-Brown, would have their debts reduced by $6000 on average, Mr Clare said.

He also said the policy would save 26,000 voters in his own electorate an average of $6127.

Mr Taylor tried to wedge Labor on its decision not to match the Coalition’s election pledge to cut the fuel excise to “provide immediate relief to cash-strapped Australian families”.

Experts said the student debt reduction policy was clearly targeted at winning votes in vulnerable inner-city electorates, as well as in aspirational outer suburban seats.