ANTHONY ALBANESE MP
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA

JASON CLARE MP
MINISTER FOR EDUCATION

ANDREW GILES MP
MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING

DANIEL MULINO MP
ASSISTANT TREASURER
MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES

More than 3 million Australians will have their student debt cut by 20 per cent by the end of next week, wiping almost $16 billion in total.

Today alone, more than 1.5 million Australians will see their student debts cut by 20 per cent. That’s around half of all people with a student debt.

It continues the ATO’s roll out of the Albanese Labor Government’s cut to student debt.

For someone with the average HELP debt of $27,600 this will see around $5,520 wiped from their debt.

Backdated to 1 June 2025 before the last indexation, it will reduce the burden for Australians with a student debt – including HELP, VET Student Loans, Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans, Student Startup Loans, and other student loans.

Australians do not need to do anything to receive the one-off reduction, it will happen automatically. 

In addition to cutting student debt by 20 per cent, we have also raised the minimum amount people earn before they have to start making repayments from $54,435 to $67,000. We have also reduced minimum repayments.

For someone earning $70,000 it has reduced the minimum repayments they have to make by $1,300 a year.

This builds on our reforms to fix the indexation formula, which has already cut more than $3 billion in student debt.

This means all up, the Albanese Labor Government is cutting close to $20 billion in student debt for more than three million Australians.