Today, Dr Monique Ryan will introduce a Private Member’s Bill into Parliament to change the date of HECS indexation, and make the student debt system fairer for millions of Australian students and graduates. Dr Ryan’s Bill has drawn widespread support from across the tertiary education sector, with leading officials from major universities and Australia’s peak representative body for higher education students expressing their support. Earlier this month, Dr Ryan released Parliamentary Budget Office costings showing that students and graduates would save $3.2 billion in indexation over 10 years if its date was changed from 1 June to 1 November. Indexation is the annual adjustment to HECS debt — and, as currently applied, HECS indexation is unfair. Currently, indexation is applied before repayments in the preceding financial year are credited to an individual’s account.

“It’s completely unfair that people who make repayments every time they get paid are still indexed on their debt as if those repayments haven’t been made. It’s a stealth tax that the government should not be charging.” Dr Monique Ryan, Independent Federal Member for Kooyong commented “We wouldn’t put up with this on our mortgage or credit card–the government shouldn’t be able to get away with this stealth tax on graduates. Every young Australian deserves access to the same affordable education that previous generations, including many current politicians, benefited from.”

Last month, three million students across Australia saw their HECS debt increase by more than $1 billion, highlighting that the student debt repayment system, as it stands, is fundamentally flawed. Students across Australia are currently facing a cost-of-learning crisis, alongside the broader cost-of-living and climate crises.

“Students and graduates are doing it tough, and they deserve a fairer deal. Practical HELP reform that reduces unfair debt pressures is a meaningful step forward, alongside the bigger task of replacing Job-ready Graduates.” Luke Sheehy, CEO of Universities Australia commented.

“Students and graduates are already dealing with rising rents, higher grocery bills and growing student debt. It’s unfair that people can be charged indexation on debt they have already made repayments towards.” Felix Hughes, National President, National Union of Students commented “Delaying indexation until compulsory repayments have been credited is a simple, common-sense reform that would make the HELP system fairer and reduce the burden of student debt.”