00:00 It's the biggest report into the tertiary sector in more than a decade and there's dozens
00:07 of recommendations with the overall aim of ensuring that 80% of Australian workers have
00:13 either completed a university degree or have gone through a course vocational education
00:19 wise, so talking there about TAFE.
00:21 That goal of 80% is by 2050 but cost is identified as a huge barrier.
00:27 So one of the recommendations is around how graduates have to pay back those fees of the
00:33 courses that they've completed, an acknowledgement that at the moment many people are struggling
00:38 to pay back those fees because of growing cost of living pressures.
00:43 So the report does make a recommendation that that should be changed, the process should
00:47 be changed, whether it's around indexation or whether it's around when you have to start
00:53 paying the debt back by.
00:55 For example at the moment once your wage hits $51,500 a year that's when you have to start
01:01 paying back the debt.
01:03 The Education Minister at a federal level, Jason Clare, has very much indicated that
01:07 yes this is a problem for many graduates and he's gone so far as to suggest that potentially
01:13 there could be changes made in this year's budget being in May.
01:17 He's linked it to the fact that many Australians are struggling with cost of living pressures.
01:22 We know the government wants to do more around cost of living so the fact the Education Minister
01:27 has gone so far as to even give the example of someone on a $75,000 wage having to pay
01:33 $1,000 less back a year very much indicates Jeremy something will be done on this this
01:40 year.
01:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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