Politics, n. pl. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

With barely a week until the election, campaigning is well and truly in the fearmongering stage. Labor Senator Katy Gallagher today held a press conference in Woden “to outline the risk a Dutton Coalition Government will pose to government services”.

Letterboxes are crammed with flyers screaming that the sky will fall if the wrong party is elected: “Fact. You’ll be worse off under Dutton from his 36,000 APS job cuts” (authorised by the Australian Labor Party).

Or: “We’re over kids woke education” (whoever ‘we’ are, and no apostrophe: so much for the education standards of the Australian Christian Lobby).

The Canberra Liberals, meanwhile, claim that Labor would hurt voters in the hip pocket: “We can’t afford three more years of Labor”, they say, because Labor would usher in higher income taxes, a new tax on utes and family cars, increased tax on retirement savings, and make groceries more expensive.

Froth, smoke, bubble, mirrors.

David Pocock: Student debt

Independent Senator David Pocock has called for a fundamental reform of student debt.

“The higher education system is no longer fair,” Senator Pocock said. “We need to tackle the root cause of burgeoning higher education debt that is growing the intergenerational divide in this country and exacerbating the cost-of-living challenge for young people.”

Modelling Senator Pocock commissioned from the Parliamentary Budget Office shows that changing when indexation applies to HECS-HELP loans could save borrowers $704 million over four years, he said. Accounting for compulsory repayments made during the year would slow the growth of their debt.

Student debt has increased by more than $10 billion since the former Coalition government introduced the Job Ready Graduates package, while changes to student loan repayment thresholds would increase the total amount borrowers owe, he says the modelling shows.

The government has capped HECS indexation to the lower of the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index, applied retrospectively from June 2023, which a spokesperson said has cut $3 billion of student debt for 3 million Australians. If elected, Labor has pledged to cut a further 20 per cent from everyone’s debt, which would reduce student loan debts by $16 billion, and to raise the minimum repayment threshold from $54,000 in 2024-25 to $67,000 in 2025-26; repayments would be based only on income above this threshold.

“The Albanese Labor Government is delivering significant reforms to make the HECS system fairer,” a Labor spokesperson said.

The Universities Accord last year recommended that the Job Ready Graduates package be replaced, Senator Pocock noted: it had increased the cost of humanities degrees, reduced funding for STEM courses, imposed HELP debts on students that did not reflect their likely future earnings, and shifted financial responsibility from government to students.

Senator Pocock criticised piecemeal policy and slow changes to former governments’ “failed” higher education policies, saying students were paying the price. He argued that Labor’s “populist” promise to wipe 20 per cent of student debt, while welcome, would not address the cost of degrees or the accumulation of fresh debt. Borrowers were paying indexation on amounts of debt they had repaid.

“Student debt should only grow in line with what people actually owe,” Senator Pocock said. “The Albanese Government did the right thing by reforming the rate of indexation, but failed to tackle this part of the problem.”

He urged both Labor and the Coalition to commit to further reform.

Senator Pocock expressed concern that changes to repayment thresholds could disadvantage graduates entering lower-paying, degree-dependent fields such as pharmacy, personal services, and communications.

His running mate, university student Hannah Vardy, said “soaring” rates of student debt was affecting people well into their working lives.

“Young people today already carry an outsized burden due to the policy choices made under previous parliaments — from the climate to the housing crises alongside a spike in student debt since the Job Ready Graduates package was introduced in 2021. The next parliament must do better to address these challenges and put a stop to unsustainable levels of student debt.”

Senator Pocock will discuss these issues further at a Youth Forum at ANU tonight.

Isabel Mudford, ACT Greens candidate for Canberra, said: “Education should be treated as a right, not a privilege for only those who can afford to pay huge student fees or accrue enormous debt. The Greens’ plan for higher education would wipe student debt so that nobody starts their adult life with a huge loan hanging over their head. Abolishing student debt and making university and TAFE free will break the cycle of disadvantage and give everyone a fair go.”

Reconciliation Day

The ACT is the only jurisdiction to mark Reconciliation Day (2 June) as a public holiday. This year, a family-friendly event will be held in Commonwealth Park, with cultural performances, workshops, and community discussions fostering understanding and respect.

Kobie Dee, a Gomeroi rapper, storyteller, and advocate for social justice and First Nations rights, will headline the event.

“It means a lot to be able to share my stories and my voice at an event like this,” Mr Dee said. “I truly believe that as a country, moving forward means coming together to listen, to learn, and to share.

“It’s through storytelling that we can educate others about the deep and rich history of First Nations people, a history that has existed on this land for thousands of years.”

Suzanne Orr MLA, minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, encouraged the public to attend.

“Reconciliation is a collective effort; it’s about our whole community recognising and addressing the injustices and inequalities faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and working towards a society where everyone is treated with respect and equality. […] All Canberrans have a role in reconciliation.”

The theme of National Reconciliation Week is ‘Bridging Now to Next’ – reflecting the connection between past, present and future and the aspiration for a more inclusive Australia.

For more details, visit reconciliation.events.canberra.com.au.

Inquiry into Burrangiri Aged Care Respite Centre

The ACT Legislative Assembly will hold an inquiry into the closure of the Burrangiri Aged Care Respite Centre in June.

Independent politicians and the opposition called for the government to keep the centre open until other respite care could be provided, but health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA said the centre was unfit for purpose and could not look after patients with complex needs.

Committee chair Thomas Emerson MLA said: “Short-term respite options, like those offered at Burrangiri, play an important role in supporting older Canberrans to continue to engage with their community, while providing their carers with an opportunity to take a break.

“Ahead of the proposed closure of the centre, the Committee is seeking to better understand the factors contributing to this outcome, as well as options to maintain the centre until a satisfactory alternative can be found.”

Submissions close on 12 May. For more information, visit the inquiry webpage.