Anthony Albanese has been slammed by millennials for ‘misleading’ voters when he vowed to wipe an eye-watering $3billion worth of student debt.
Labor pledged in May to change the HECS indexation rate to be set against either the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Index, whichever figure is lower.
The Prime Minister vowed that more than three million Aussies would have thousands of dollars slashed from their outstanding HECS-HELP and VET loans.
However, the policy was slammed as ‘deceptive’ after the PM took to social media to spruik the controversial cost-of living measure on Thursday.
‘Stop scrolling if you’ve got student debt,’ Mr Albanese wrote.
‘We just introduced our bill to wipe $3billion of it.’
Mr Albanese said the bill would also deliver paid practical placements for nursing, midwifery, teaching and social work students.
‘You haven’t wiped any debt. All you have done is transfer the debt to other taxpayers who didn’t benefit from the education,’ one Aussie fired back.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been slammed by millennials for ‘misleading’ voters when he vowed to wipe an eye-watering $3billion worth of student debt
Aussies accused Labor of transferring student debt to taxpayers instead of wiping it
‘Another vote buying attempt from @AlboMP. Happy to use Aussie tax $ like he earns it – to buy votes due to his constant failure,’ a second wrote.
‘It’s embarrassing to have a Prime Minister who doesn’t understand the difference between wiping debt and readjusting indexation,’ a third shared.
‘The government hasn’t wiped any debt; they’ve merely adjusted the indexation. Their communication on this issue is misleading and deceptive.’
A fourth commented: ‘You are not wiping anything… You are just transferring another $3billion debt to the rest of us.’
Others shared alternatives to the policy.
‘Freezing interest on those loans would better serve those with student debt, & not cost the tax-payer,’ one suggested.
‘Maybe you should offer free tertiary education initiatives for people to aspire to, so they have hope and dreams,’ a second wrote.
Under Labor’s pledge to wipe debt, the average amount of money students owe to the ATO on their HECS and HELP debt will be cut by $1,200.
Students with larger debts such as those with a HELP debt of $50,000 will have their repayments reduced by $2,245.
The change will apply to all HELP, VET Student Loan, Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan and student support loan accounts that existed on 1 June last year.
‘There’s a range of areas we need to do much better for the younger generation and HECS is one of them,’ Mr Albanese said at the time.
Australians owed a combined $78.2billion in HECS-HELP debt as of 2023.
The indexation rate hit a massive 7.1 per cent last year as inflation hit an annual rate of 7 per cent, during the first three months in 2023.