Working-class Gippslanders are set to pay more for city students to pay off their debts under a cynical vote-buying exercise announced by the Albanese Government, according to local MP Darren Chester.
The Member for Gippsland said the proposal to cut all student HELP debts by 20% was unfair to families across Gippsland who are struggling with the cost of living crisis.
Under the Labor Party’s plan, taxpayers will pay $16 billion for a scheme that heavily favours voters in metropolitan areas.
“It sounds good on the surface until you take a closer look… it’s just a student vote-buying scheme targeted at the seats the Labor Party needs to win to form government again in 2025,” Mr Chester said.
“For example, this proposal will potentially benefit 12,777 people in Gippsland, but it helps 28,009 former students in the Prime Minister’s seat of Grayndler and 25,901 people in the Education Minister’s seat of Blaxland.”
Mr Chester said independent data from the Parliamentary Library indicated the average number of people who would benefit under the scheme in seats held by The Nationals in rural and regional Australia is 13,384.
However, in the seats held by the Greens in the inner city, which are key targets for Labor, the average number of people who would benefit is 32,288 per electorate.
Amongst the seats held by the city-based Teals, the average number of people who would see a reduction in their student debt is 23,099.
“This is unfair to rural and regional families, and across the nation, we will see 24 million people hit with the bill to pay for a scheme that benefits three million former students who actually have a higher income earning capacity than average,” Mr Chester said.
“It’s no wonder we have respected economists attacking the scheme and describing it as a ‘reverse Robin Hood’ because it takes from people with less capacity to earn and gives money to people who will earn higher incomes across their working life because of the additional training they have received.
“This proposal also does nothing to reduce the barriers for rural and regional students seeking to access higher education and discriminates against people who never went to university or have recently repaid their debt at the higher levels.
“At a total cost of $16 billion, this scheme will cost each Australian household about $1600 in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
“The Commonwealth already pays 60% of a university student’s education, which is a very substantial contribution by the taxpayer, and people with higher levels of education earn more on average than the rest of the population.
“The disproportionate impact of this policy on urban areas is a blatant exercise in trying to buy student votes in the city, and country people will be paying the bill for years to come.”
