Mrs PHILLIPS (Gilmore) (21:35): I'm a former TAFE teacher and a mum of four young adults, so I totally get how tough it is for young people and students trying to get ahead right now. I have seen firsthand how a good education can change lives, but I also understand how getting that education can become a huge financial burden for many people and many families, particularly in rural and regional areas.

Helping with the cost of living is at the top of the Albanese Labor government's agenda. We promised to cut student debt, and now we are delivering on that promise. Every Australian with a HECS or student debt, including VET and TAFE loans, will see a 20 per cent reduction in the next six months. That's an average saving of $5½ thousand.

This is an absolute game changer for the more than three million Australians with HECS or student debt. It will be life changing for almost 14,000 people in my electorate of Gilmore that have a student debt.

I know the cost of living is biting, and I know families and young people on the South Coast of New South Wales are doing it tough. Cutting student debt means that 14,000 people in Gilmore will keep more of what they earn.

Whether these people are retraining and supporting a family at the same time, whether they're just out of home and starting out in their new careers or whether they're just out of uni or TAFE, cutting their student debt will make a world of difference. This will particularly help younger Australians, with around 70 per cent of people repaying a HELP debt being aged 35 or younger. This is a critical time for young people who are saving, considering buying their first home or supporting or starting a family.

I know that the 14,000 people in Gilmore with a student debt can't wait to log into their accounts and see 20 per cent slashed from their loans. On polling day, I spoke to young people who told me that cutting their debt burden would enable them to use their skills and earnings to build a better future for themselves and their families. I spoke with parents and grandparents who wanted debt relief for their kids and grandkids to provide them with an opportunity to pay off their student loans faster.

We're helping people who have apprenticeship support loans, higher education loans and student startup loans. We're helping people who have vocational education and training student loans and people who have been assisted by student financial supplement schemes. When combined with the 2024 changes to indexation introduced by this government, the 20 per cent reduction in student debt will cut approximately $20 billion in debt for around three million Australians.

This is what a Labor government does. We cut debt, we lift wages and we fund our schools properly. Only Labor opens the doors of opportunity. We're helping more young Australians to finish school and then go to TAFE or university.

We're building a better and fairer education system where no-one is held back and no-one is left behind. We know that quality education can change lives, so we want to help more people access the quality education we have here in Australia so they can increase their earning potential and, importantly, keep more of what they earn.

The Albanese government has introduced the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025, which has passed in the House, to cut student debt by 20 per cent, and this was the first bill of the 48th Parliament. Australians voted for it, and we are delivering it.

We want people to have the confidence to go and get the skills, whether it be at TAFE or university, so they can be productive members of society and contribute to our economy. We want to ensure every Australian can get the skills they need for secure, well-paid jobs.

In my electorate, the University of Wollongong campuses in Nowra and Batemans Bay offer local residents an opportunity to study closer to home. In regional areas, tertiary study can often mean moving away from home and your family. These campuses are training new teachers, accountants, nurses and doctors.

I'm so proud that medical students can complete their end-to-end rural medical training at the University of Wollongong Shoalhaven Graduate School of Medicine, and many are staying to work in the local area. The University of Wollongong is a leader in the provision of medical training in rural areas, with over 40 per cent of graduates going on to live and work in regional centres and rurally.

I've been hearing from local GPs for years that one of the biggest issues for them is recruiting and retaining local doctors. They've been calling out for improved incentives for doctors to work in regional areas like ours, and I'm delighted to be part of a government that is finally delivering this. The Australian Universities Accord is a blueprint for change that will transform our country's education system.

In addition to cutting student debt by 20 per cent, we're raising the minimum amount required for people to have to start making repayments from $54,000 to $67,000 and reducing minimum repayments. For someone earning $70,000 it will reduce the minimum repayments they have to make by $1,300 a year. That's a big deal.

People will not start paying back those loans until they have a good job and are starting to earn good money. That will make a real difference for people who may be going back to TAFE to get additional qualifications or if they are doing further study at university.

The government wants to break down barriers and open up more pathways for more Australians to get the skills they want and to do the jobs that they need. That's why we're making free TAFE permanent. I've witnessed how free TAFE is making a real difference in my electorate, at the Nowra, Moruya and Ulladulla TAFE campuses. Trade courses such as carpentry and electrical are booming in Gilmore.

Our free TAFE builds for the future so we have the tradies to build homes, workers to care for our children and our elderly, and apprentices to help grow our small businesses. Free TAFE is delivering the skills and training we need to grow the Australian economy.

Australians voted to help out our young people just out of uni, just out of TAFE, just out of home and just getting started. They voted to support the doctors, nurses, aged care workers, teachers, tradies, engineers and IT workers of the future.

But we're not only cutting student debt and making free TAFE permanent. Another important thing we're doing is rolling out paid prac. This government is helping teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students earn an income while they do the practical part of their university degree. From 1 July, eligible students will receive $331 per week while doing their mandatory prac placements as part of their degree.

This new payment will provide cost-of-living relief for around 68,000 eligible higher education students and more than 5,000 VET students each year. This payment will help students with the cost of living and also encourage more people to study in the important fields of nursing, midwifery, teaching and social work.

We're opening more university study hubs in our outer suburbs and in our regions so people have the option to study online and further their skills without leaving their local community.

These are people like Kirra, a small business operator, who, at the age of 51, completed her Master of Teaching (Secondary) at Wollongong University's Batemans Bay campus. I was thrilled to see Kirra graduate in January along with a cohort of local students who were assisted with the support of the study hub at the Country Universities Centre Southern Shoalhaven in Ulladulla.

Getting an education shouldn't be limited by your age or where you live.

Getting an education shouldn't mean a lifetime of debt.

No matter where you live or how much your parents earn, this government is working to ensure the doors of opportunity are open for everyone.