A selfie with university students posted by Anthony Albanese has backfired spectacularly on the Prime Minister after he was accused of ‘vote buying’.
Mr Albanese posted a photo of himself posing with three students to remind Australians that his government plans to wipe out more than $3 billion in HECS debt.
Labor has promised to change the HECS indexation rate so that it is measured against the consumer price index or the wage index, whichever is lower.
A student’s HECS debt would be indexed by four percent in 2024 instead of seven percent, and the 2023 index figure of 7.1 percent would be retroactively reversed to 3.2 percent.
“We are paying off $3 billion in student debt, for over three million Australians,” Albanese captioned the cheerful photo he posted to his social media on Tuesday.
Mr Albanese posted a photo of himself posing with three university students to remind Australians that his government plans to wipe out more than $3 billion in HECS debt.
The photo was quickly flooded with comments accusing the Prime Minister of trying to ‘buy’ votes, while others complained that it would be taxpayers who would foot the bill.
“Eliminating student debt won’t convince tomorrow’s youth leaders to vote for you,” noted feminist author Clementine Ford.
“Student debt will not be unfairly indexed to the ridiculous inflation rate your government has failed to maintain,” wrote a second.
‘How stupid do you think we are? Nobody buys your BS.”
A third commented: ‘Debt isn’t ‘wiped away’, you just hand it over to the taxpayer, without asking. If those kids knew their future kids would pay for it, they wouldn’t smile.”
“We lost $3 billion in student debt to buy over 3 million Australian votes,” wrote another.
The Australian Taxation Office confirmed on June 1 that HECS debt was still indexed at 4.7 percent instead of four percent.
Under Labor’s debt cancellation pledge, the average amount students owe to the ATO for their HECS and HELP debts will be reduced by $1,200.
For students with larger debts, such as those with $50,000 in HELP debt, repayments will be reduced by $2,245.
The change will apply to all HELP, VET student loans, Australian Learner Support Loans and student loans in existence on June 1 last year.
“There are a range of areas where we need to do much better for the younger generation and HECS is one of them,” Albanese said at the time.
Australians collectively owed $78.2 billion in HECS-HELP debt as of 2023.
The indexation rate reached a huge 7.1 percent last year, while inflation reached an annual rate of 7 percent during the first three months of 2023.
Albanese was accused of wiping out student debt to “buy votes” in the next federal election
In May, Treasurer Jim Chalmers described the indexation system as “flawed” and said it placed younger Australians under unfair budget pressure.
Dr. Chalmers announced in the Budget that $427 million would be spent over four years on financial support for students undertaking mandatory practical placements in crucial sectors such as nursing, midwifery, education and social services.
Previously, students in these sectors had to work full-time, unpaid for weeks to obtain their qualification.
This meant that students could not commit to their paid jobs and earn money to cover basic services such as rent, electricity and food.
HECS and HELP are loans that students can take out to pay their tuition fees, with the government-funded amount then having to be repaid.
Domestic students are eligible to access the program to obtain Commonwealth financial assistance.