00:00 The petition that I put up about 36 days ago, which already has an extraordinary more than
00:06 260,000 signatures, asked for a very simple and modest change to the HECS system, which
00:10 is to change indexation so it's the lower of the CPI, consumer price index, or the wage
00:17 price index.
00:18 So in that instance, basically, people's wages would keep up with their HECS debt, which
00:22 is something which has not happened for the last two years.
00:25 There's lots of other changes that the government could institute immediately, which would decrease
00:30 the burden on the 2.9 million Australians who carry a HECS debt, but that's a very simple
00:34 and modest place to start.
00:36 Yeah, we'll get to some of the other potential changes that could be made in a moment, but
00:40 the Prime Minister did hint this week that there could be change coming.
00:44 We've got the federal budget being handed down next month.
00:47 He said that changes will be made, quote, "pretty soon."
00:50 Have you spoken to the Prime Minister and the Education Minister, Jason Clare, about
00:54 this?
00:55 I've spoken with the Education Minister about this issue on a number of occasions for more
00:58 than a year now, and he is very much aware of the fact that this HECS debt has become
01:03 a millstone around the neck of so many Australians.
01:06 He has indicated that he's aware of it and that there will be changes.
01:09 The question is what there'll be and how extensive that will be, and that's why I'm asking everyone
01:14 to sign my petition and get on board, because I think we really do need to keep this front
01:17 of mind for the government.
01:18 It's a real issue for many, many Australians.
01:22 This is also something that's being called for by that federal government review of higher
01:26 education, the University's Accord.
01:28 As you say, the petition is calling for the simple and modest change of a change to indexation,
01:32 but what else could be done to help relieve the burden of these debts?
01:37 Well the thing about the HECS debts is that they don't reflect the future earning capacity
01:40 of Australians, and they're affecting the way that Australians who carry a HECS debt
01:44 are operating now.
01:46 So for one example, the Morrison government doubled the cost of arts and humanities degrees
01:53 with its Job Ready Graduates Program.
01:55 It didn't want young people to undertake humanities degrees, and the cost of those degrees now
02:01 is manifestly excessive, and it outweighs the potential earning capacity of graduates
02:09 from those degrees after they finish them.
02:12 So we need to take the Job Ready Graduates Scheme off the table and basically go back
02:17 to a form of HECS which more accurately reflects the earning capacity of tertiary students.
02:23 But the other changes that we need to make are very, very simple.
02:27 The indexation of HECS goes to the debt that people owe before their payments for each
02:33 year are accredited to their account, which is crazy.
02:37 So what people are finding is that they've made off payments during the course of a year,
02:41 but then when they check their account, their debt has increased rather than decreased.
02:45 It doesn't happen with other forms of debt, and it shouldn't happen with this form of
02:48 debt either.
02:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]
