Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance released the following statement on April 1.
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Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance joins with young people around the country in condemning several proposals by the federal government which seek to relocate financial problems of the state onto the backs of young people.
The proposal to lower the income at which the government can start to collect study loans from students comes after a Grattan Institute report found that a significant portion of students will never earn an income high enough to repay their debt.
Currently, university graduates start repaying their student loans when they earn more than $54,186. The proposal from the federal government is to lower this repayment threshold to $42,000 which would increase the number of people repaying the debt by 50%.
There has also been a proposition from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the federal government may consider ending funding for public schools, re-allocating this burden to state governments, while maintaining federal funding for the private school system.
This is yet another attack on students, this time in the primary and secondary sector, as it is students who will ultimately be disadvantaged by this change in funding.
These attacks are an attempt by the government to shift its financial problems onto the backs of ordinary people, damaging the living standards and future prospects of young working class people in the process.
Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance co-convener Sarah Hathway said: “Resistance rejects these attacks on students. Young people should not have to pay for their crisis! Education is a fundamental human right and should be accessible for all. We need to tax the rich to fund free education.”
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