Australia wipes AU$16 billion off student loans, targeting cost of living relief
Australia’s parliament on Thursday passed a law to cut student loans by 20 percent, wiping more than AU$16 billion (NZ$17.4 billion) in debt for 3 million people, and fulfilling a key election promise to help mitigate the rising cost of living.
The law is the first passed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party since being re-elected in May with one of the country’s largest-ever majorities.
“We promised cutting student debt would be the first thing we did back in parliament and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Albanese said in a statement.
“Getting an education shouldn’t mean a lifetime of debt.”
Education Minister Jason Clare said the measure would help take a weight off the backs of young people.
Our own Kiwis fear returning because of student loan debt…
Overseas Kiwis struggle with massive interest, penalties on student loans
…it’s time for the NZ Left to be radical – we need a Jubilee Government!
Wipe student loan debt for those who agree to return to NZ and stay 5 years!
We must look at a radical reset for student loan debt and beneficiary debt, we must take the tax yoke off the shoulders of workers and place it on the mega wealthy.
Wipe student loan debt for those who agree to return to NZ and stay 5 years!
We must look at a radical reset for student loan debt and beneficiary debt, we must take the tax yoke off the shoulders of workers and place it on the mega wealthy.
I have been arguing since Bernie Sanders stood against Hilary that the only way to combat Trump’s (and the wider rights) negative populism is popular populism.
Not one poor family is sitting around the kitchen table cancelling each other for misusing pronouns, they are trying to work out how to pay the bills, and when the working poor turn to us on the Left for solutions and see only alienating identity politics dogma being served up as a solution, they turn away in anger at us.
I’ve only been pointing this other since 2016.
Meanwhile the planet burns.
If we’ve all finished alienating possible voters with pure temple politics, how’s about some good old fashioned Broadchurch class solidarity instead?
- Free public transport
- An Iwi back 3rd Supermarket chain.
- First $20 000 tax free
- GST off essentials
- Free Dental
- Free Health
- Free Education
Left Universalism is our goal, subsidising the biggest costs for the poorest people.
The NZ Left needs to move beyond the low hanging fruit of identity politics and the illusion of awareness…
Bregman says one antidote to that fear is “moral ambition.” It’s his term for people who blend the idealism of an activist with the ruthless pragmatism of an entrepreneur to make the world a better place. In his new book, “Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference,”Bregman uses the example of that German shipyard worker and other ordinary people to critique what he sees as a common failing of people on the left: They fall for the “illusion of awareness,” a belief that simply exposing people to injustice will inspire them to act.
“Awareness doesn’t put food on the table. Awareness won’t keep a roof over your head,” writes Bregman, a vegan who has spoken out against animal factory farming. “With awareness, you don’t cool down the planet, you’re not finding shelter for those 100 million refugees, and you won’t make a bit of difference for the 100 billion animals at factory farms worldwide. Awareness is at best a starting point, while for many activists, it seems to have become the end goal.”
…the manner in which social media school chambers have radicalised voters into Qanon militia speaks to a deeper wound and is reminiscent of the way global Muslim youth were radicalised in the 1990s and 2000s thanks to online Jihadist recruitment videos.
Citizens should feel angry and cynical at a system that is rigged in favour of the rich!
The Left should lean into that populism!
We need to focus on how to combat this terrible racist, anti-worker, anti-Treaty, anti-renter, anti-beneficiary, anti-environment Government who are selling out the common good for the interests of their donor friends.
We have to re-establish the egalitarian mission by promoting policy that directly challenges the capitalist status quo in meaningful ways.
Without vision, the Left is lost.
There are 4 magical pillars of the NZ economic ‘success’
1 – Stealing Indigenous land and never paying back the full value.
2 – Selling basic milk powder to China
3 – Selling each other houses and pretending that makes us rich.
4 – Addiction to a low wage economy.
The migration exploitation rules are garbage because NZ loves exploiting migrant labour!
We are addicted to it.
We say locals are too lazy for these jobs when really what we say is locals won’t allow themselves to be exploited as easily as migrant workers.
There is of course a solution here.
Universal Union membership for every migrant worker crossing the border.
That way domestic workers know they are not competing against exploited labour.
That way migrant labour can’t be exploited without the Union stepping.
That way the migrant worker and domestic worker are all protected by the solidarity of the Union.
We don’t want a solution to exploited labour, that’s why Universal Union Membership for migrant workers is ignored and non-solutions like this are promoted.
We need economic resilience, we need community resilience, we need radical reform to strengthen sustainability.
We need more Left Universalism.
We need to lift the tax yoke off working people, beneficiaries and the middle classes and we need to put it on the Banks, the Corporations, the Billionaires and the mega wealthy.
We need more Democratic Infrastructure, not less!
Why do we need these things?
Because the climate is shutting down and we face a bleak future where Billions will suffer and die thanks to catastrophic climate change.
This change will be forced upon us whether we like it or not.
This demands more connections, more bonds that bind us together to emotionally, socially, economically and politically survive what is coming.
Māori communalism is going to teach us a lot.
Here are some thoughts on what the NZ Left should be considering:
The Right to Strike: A 10 day nation wide national strike would achieve more for working people than a dozen elections. We don’t have the right to strike in this country for God’s sakes, stand on your feet or live on your knees!
Iwi backed new Supermarket: Bring in a 3rd player into the supermarket duopoly that is Iwi backed with a focus on cheap prices for consumers, best prices for producers and high wages and work conditions for workers. Take 30% of the Supermarket Industry by force (allowed under the Commerce Commission powers) and use this as the backbone for a new food security system.
Wipe student loan debt + beneficiary debt: Wipe student loan debt for those who agree to return to NZ and stay 5 years and wipe all beneficiary debt.
Mārae Civil Defence: Use Marae as the backbone of Civil Defence throughout NZ with resources based there alongside new building grants to strengthen those Marae.
Ministry of Green Works: We need to be able to build our own sustainable infrastructure, we need social housing builds and we need vast upgrading of the existing infrastructure to be adaptable to climate change.
New Mental Health First Responders: A whole new branch of first responders to deal specifically with mental health issues to talk people down and seek help rather than calling then Police and arresting people.
Artist Benefit: As part of a degrowth Capitalism model, pay Artists to make public art, use that art as a means to deal with the wondrous grief caused by the destruction of the planet.
Māori Parliament: An indigenous Parliament that amplifies Māori political voices.
Universal Student Union: Allow Student Unions to be the incubators for tomorrows politicians and stop students simply being cash cows for corporate education.
Universal Migrant Union: Stop migrant worker exploitation with universal student membership.
Retirement Village Unions: These scumbag retirement villages abuse their elderly and sick clients, universal Retirement Village Unions would stop them being exploited.
Pensioner Unions: Give our elderly a voice!
Sugar Tax to fund free dental.
Financial Transaction Tax to target speculators
Free Public Transport to lower emissions and make an impact on the wallets of the poor.
Wealth Tax aimed at the super wealthy
Inheritance Tax only realised after death
First $20 000 tax free for everyone
Lower GST to 10% to take the tax burden off the poor
Nationalise Early Childhood Education to lower the cost for working mothers and fathers
Parental leave: Expand to 12months.
Free Dental: Come on!
100% Renewable energy: Climate change is here, renewables are the only future.
Fund Te Ao Māori social services: Use these to create competition with the public sector.
Neutrality: Fuck getting dragged into a Chinese or American war
Freeze on all immigration, give overstayers amnesty: A 5 year halt on immigration while giving all overstayers amnesty to give NZ time to build.
Take in more refugees: We have an obligation to the world to take in more refugees.
Without vision the Left is dead.
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“Getting an education shouldn’t mean a lifetime of debt”
This must be the most simple yet profound statement of how society should be organized
that a left wing politician has made in Australia or Ao/NZ in years.
The actions, of reducing that debt rather than eliminating it, didn’t match the rhetoric but this
is a politician saying it.
But the idea is out there and if only we had a Labour Party capable of understanding the
rationale behind it and willing to develop policy that supported it.
Free stuff for everyone!
Free stuff for Board heads under National! 80% off sale!
Australia is a wealthy country because they have been able to mine their coal ,iron and copper without hurdles being placed in their way by opposition groups .Ike here in NZ
Ordinary aussies are struggling with cost of living crisis.
Meanwhile international corporations dig up their wealth paying no taxes or royalties. They get the mineral resources for almost free. It would be completely free if they didn’t have to hand out million dollar directorships to former politicians.
Looks like the NZF Oil & Gas Party are glomping on to that fossil fuels scam too.
The State governments get mining royalties – and lots of them.
That is why West Australia is so wealthy.
And the Australian federal budget is closely tied to the iron ore price.
Really Ada? So tell us, what is the percentage of tax and/or royalties paid?
Trevor – the real reason that Australia has a huge sovereign wealth fund, and the ability to invest in their society, is due to their COMPULSORY retirement savings scheme.
NZ could’ve done the same, but we were too chicken, and too stupid to think beyond the next news cycle.
Shame on us for electing stupid shortsighted chickens.
Ever since, those MP sorted chickens have been busy shitting on us from their penthouse roosts far above the smelly bottom feeders.
Correct Ximon. Employers are now required to contribute 12% on top of an employee’s salary towards superannuation. Our National Coc just cut super contributions and say every man for himself! Not forgetting cutting pay equity and creating high unemployment!
Australia is a big country with the mines being far enough away from most people and the income from sales supporting their economy so most of them take a pragmatic approach and ignore any future liabilities or environmental destruction.
They have to pump house prices somehow.
Wealth,and slack jaw, always got a point of blaim, Nsw. bigger than us, why, your sorted, so private education and health care, is your sorted panacea.
Slack jaw, barbie xmas time was when your lot got your dump,, yet the thatcher clone, being now foils up education, is your, haven!t talked to him, to busy up on my foils, to back to nowhere.
Aussie government have student debt write off.
N.Z. government arrest students at the border.
And people wonder why kiwis are flocking to Australia.
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