Media Release
LABOR’S HIGHER EDUCATION FUNDING CRISIS -THE NUMBERS JUST DON’T ADD UP
30 January 2004 MIN 597/04
Labor has claimed it will reinstate an expensive, ineffective and poorly targeted student loan scheme with effective interest rates of up to 16% in a desperate attempt to fill a black hole in its higher education policy.
Last year the Australian Government announced it would close the Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS) because it was plunging poor students deep into debt, which a vast number were not able to repay. Half the loans were unlikely to be repaid costing taxpayers $1.4 billion.
This decision was welcomed by the National Union of Students and by the Labor Party.
A media release from Labor’s Education Spokesperson Jenny Macklin said the closure "tinkers at the edges of student debt".
"The Howard Government’s announcement today that it will axe the Student Financial Supplement Scheme will amount to barely a drop less in the ocean of massive student debt under the Howard Government."
Jenny Macklin Media Release, 25 April, 2003
The scheme was closed in 2003. It no longer exists.
Yet today Mark Latham said he will fill a massive $160 million black hole in his higher education funding policy by bringing it back!
“And we’re going to reverse the Government’s decision to abolish the Student Financial Support Scheme - that saves money.”
Alan Jones Show, 2GB Radio, 30/1/04
It was revealed last year that Labor had a $540 million dollar funding black hole in its higher education promises.
Labor also says it will wind back $160 million in tax concessions for foreign executives to fund its higher education promises. But these tax concessions do not exist, meaning these savings cannot be used by Labor to help fund its higher education promises.
An analysis by the Department of Finance and Administration has already concluded that Labor’s proposed science and maths HECS reductions are under costed to the tune of $220 million.
Labor cannot be trusted to get the numbers right.
Media contact:
Dr Nelson’s Office Yaron Finkelstein 0419 484 095
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