July 31, 2025 • 4 mins
Australia's parliament on Thursday passed a law to cut student loans by 20 percent - removing over AU$16 billion in debt for 3 million people.
During this year's election, Labor made cutting student debt a key election promise, framing it as a measure to ease living costs and tackle intergenerational inequality.
Australian correspondent Murray Olds explained that the student loan cuts weren't just for degree holders, but trade students also got some of their course-related debts waived too.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From Australia, Murray, Old's ever been bitten by a wasp?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Look, I'm not sure, Andrew. I remember I've been stung
by a bumblebee. They only sting you once, wasps. Keep biting, right,
you're in Australia.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You're in Australia. Other very critical quick questions. Ever been
bitten by a snake or bitten by a spider?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
No, no, no, any of those things. But Australia does
have I think nineteen of the world's most twenty deadly snakes.
I don't know who's got the other one. But it doesn't,
Boody matter, because we've got nineteen.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Twenty percent of student loans in Australia set to be
wiped out.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's right, and it's on average it's about five and
a half thousand dollars per student. This was a very
significant election measure that Labor put forward to cut one
fifth of your student debt. And you know, the liberal side,
the conservative side of politics, wonders why it had no
(00:54):
people under thirty voting for. It had no women either,
by that you know, and no migrants either, but that's
another debate. So it was certainly very very popular with
young people. Not just for degrees either, wasn't just for
medicine and for engineering. It's for young men and women
who are doing the vocational stuff as well. Andrew electricians, builders, plumbers,
Tyler's the whole range, the whole suite of skills that
(01:16):
any modern society needs. All these, you know, they all
need tertiary education levels these days to do just about everything,
of course, and so very significant for a lot of people,
thousands and thousands and thousands of people. I saw one
figure over three million. Not sure if it's that much,
but certainly very well, very warmly welcomed by the young
(01:37):
people who were going to receive this debt.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Retired pork barrel politics were actually an aid to great
business efficiency and productivity.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Depends on you talk to mate. One nation. Pauline Hanson
and her morons voted against it. So you know, I mean,
these are people who that is lucky that they invented
slip on shoes because bloody shoe laces. Beyond the Pauline Hanson.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Bob, I wish you'd actually say what you really mean
more often, Murray. Now, inflation is down to a four
year low.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
There it is not since twenty twenty one is the
headline rate down to two point one percent the year
to June. The underlying rate, which is the one the
Reserve Bank most carefully watches, that's the one that strips
out all the volatile items, could be the price of
oil goes to the roof or whatever. That was two
point seven percent, But that's right in that goldilock zone,
the sweet spot. The Reserve Bank has been waiting for
(02:32):
inflation to come down sustainably between two and three percent,
So two point seven percent right in that sweet spot.
Now the government says, no surprise here. It's a stunning result.
And of course what this is done, and it was
heightened speculation. The Reserve Bank is going to cut interustrates
at its next meeting, which I think is next week,
perhaps the week after, and maybe another cut prior to Christmas,
(02:55):
and that will be super well welcomed by so many
people over here with big mortgages.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I want to talk about this guy called David James,
who I cannot call a creep yet because he hasn't
been found guilty, but I know his name, facing thirteen offenses,
with nine accounts of advigative use of a child to
make child abuse material. I mean a lot of the
allegations are too graphic to publish, but we know his
name and I think this is important because often in
these cases, until they found guilty, we don't know who
(03:20):
these creeps are. So how come we know the name
of David James in the New South Wales.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It was a twelve month fight in court to He
was trying to protect his identity. He wanted to remain anonymous.
Police went to court and said no, he's accused of,
as you say, extremely serious crimes. And finally he has
now been a court has found no, he's got no
right to anonymity, so he has been identified. So for
twelve months this fight was going on. Now we know
(03:47):
a bit about this fellow. He's worked at nearly sixty
childcare centers six to zero. He's also apparently a former policeman.
He was allegedly pinned by federal police, not the state police,
but federal police last year on the dark web, and
he was initially charged with refusing to grant police access
to his telephone. Police believed he had photographed children, and
(04:11):
indeed the allegation is explicit photographs of kids five to
six years old, right as they used bathrooms at some
of these centers that he was working at. So it's grotesque,
it's dreadful, as you say, allegations only at the stage
the police had they got a very very strong case
when the matter goes to court.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I understood they contacted over twelve hundred people who might
have been victims, and they've all said yet, no, good,
thank you, we know all this and we're okay with
having his name out. So there we go. And the
judge also said there's no reason to keep his name
for public, even though the lawyer said naming him might
cause him to be under threatened the jail environment.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So shame.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Mary old Za. Thank you for more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
From Australia, Murray, Old's ever been bitten by a wasp?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Look, I'm not sure, Andrew. I remember I've been stung
by a bumblebee. They only sting you once, wasps. Keep biting, right,
you're in Australia.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You're in Australia. Other very critical quick questions. Ever been
bitten by a snake or bitten by a spider?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
No, no, no, any of those things. But Australia does
have I think nineteen of the world's most twenty deadly snakes.
I don't know who's got the other one. But it doesn't,
Boody matter, because we've got nineteen.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Twenty percent of student loans in Australia set to be
wiped out.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's right, and it's on average it's about five and
a half thousand dollars per student. This was a very
significant election measure that Labor put forward to cut one
fifth of your student debt. And you know, the liberal side,
the conservative side of politics, wonders why it had no
(00:54):
people under thirty voting for. It had no women either,
by that you know, and no migrants either, but that's
another debate. So it was certainly very very popular with
young people. Not just for degrees either, wasn't just for
medicine and for engineering. It's for young men and women
who are doing the vocational stuff as well. Andrew electricians, builders, plumbers,
Tyler's the whole range, the whole suite of skills that
(01:16):
any modern society needs. All these, you know, they all
need tertiary education levels these days to do just about everything,
of course, and so very significant for a lot of people,
thousands and thousands and thousands of people. I saw one
figure over three million. Not sure if it's that much,
but certainly very well, very warmly welcomed by the young
(01:37):
people who were going to receive this debt.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Retired pork barrel politics were actually an aid to great
business efficiency and productivity.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Depends on you talk to mate. One nation. Pauline Hanson
and her morons voted against it. So you know, I mean,
these are people who that is lucky that they invented
slip on shoes because bloody shoe laces. Beyond the Pauline Hanson.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Bob, I wish you'd actually say what you really mean
more often, Murray. Now, inflation is down to a four
year low.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
There it is not since twenty twenty one is the
headline rate down to two point one percent the year
to June. The underlying rate, which is the one the
Reserve Bank most carefully watches, that's the one that strips
out all the volatile items, could be the price of
oil goes to the roof or whatever. That was two
point seven percent, But that's right in that goldilock zone,
the sweet spot. The Reserve Bank has been waiting for
(02:32):
inflation to come down sustainably between two and three percent,
So two point seven percent right in that sweet spot.
Now the government says, no surprise here. It's a stunning result.
And of course what this is done, and it was
heightened speculation. The Reserve Bank is going to cut interustrates
at its next meeting, which I think is next week,
perhaps the week after, and maybe another cut prior to Christmas,
(02:55):
and that will be super well welcomed by so many
people over here with big mortgages.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I want to talk about this guy called David James,
who I cannot call a creep yet because he hasn't
been found guilty, but I know his name, facing thirteen offenses,
with nine accounts of advigative use of a child to
make child abuse material. I mean a lot of the
allegations are too graphic to publish, but we know his
name and I think this is important because often in
these cases, until they found guilty, we don't know who
(03:20):
these creeps are. So how come we know the name
of David James in the New South Wales.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It was a twelve month fight in court to He
was trying to protect his identity. He wanted to remain anonymous.
Police went to court and said no, he's accused of,
as you say, extremely serious crimes. And finally he has
now been a court has found no, he's got no
right to anonymity, so he has been identified. So for
twelve months this fight was going on. Now we know
(03:47):
a bit about this fellow. He's worked at nearly sixty
childcare centers six to zero. He's also apparently a former policeman.
He was allegedly pinned by federal police, not the state police,
but federal police last year on the dark web, and
he was initially charged with refusing to grant police access
to his telephone. Police believed he had photographed children, and
(04:11):
indeed the allegation is explicit photographs of kids five to
six years old, right as they used bathrooms at some
of these centers that he was working at. So it's grotesque,
it's dreadful, as you say, allegations only at the stage
the police had they got a very very strong case
when the matter goes to court.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I understood they contacted over twelve hundred people who might
have been victims, and they've all said yet, no, good,
thank you, we know all this and we're okay with
having his name out. So there we go. And the
judge also said there's no reason to keep his name
for public, even though the lawyer said naming him might
cause him to be under threatened the jail environment.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So shame.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Mary old Za. Thank you for more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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