Emma Gillespie

That was great for the students at the time, including our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

Many of our parents.

Many of our parents.

But it was argued that that created an unfair burden on taxpayers.

So from 1989, the Hawke government rolled out HECS.

And that basically means that students borrow money from the government to pay for their studies and their individual repayments depend on their income.

So the current threshold there is $67,000.

That means if you earn above 67K annually, that triggers you to be required to start paying off your debt.

Next year, that increases to $69,000 annually in line with inflation.

But basically in 1989, at the time that this scheme was rolled out, the education minister of the day, John Dawkins, said people who benefit from participation in higher education will be required to make a small contribution towards the cost of their study, noting payments would be indexed to keep pace with inflation.

So all of that is to say that your HECS help loan is your HECS debt.

It can include unis.

It can also include some approved TAFE and private colleges and institutes.

So indexation, as it applies to your HECS, is relevant on the 1st of June every year when your debt is adjusted significantly.

upward.

So your debt gets bigger essentially.

Now, the reason that the indexation figure fluctuates is that money changes in value over time.

So, you know, a dollar today is worth less than a dollar 10 years ago.

So the government adjusts your debt to keep pace with that.

And this year, the indexation figure is 2.8%.