AUSTRALIA THIRD READING: AUSTRALIA


is in a form, which has been introduced to the Senate today, which is vastly different from the original Bill introduced in the other place in June. The Bill we are now presented with was substantially amended in response to the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. It is because of those changes, which greatly constrained the power of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to deprive a person of citizenship, that Labor is willing to support the Bill.”


Education Legislation Amendment (Overseas Debt Recovery) Act 2015 The legislation creates an overseas repayment obligation for Australians who have taken advantage of the government’s generous income-contingent loans. This includes Higher Education Loan Program (or HELP) loans and trade support loans (TSL). The then Minister for Education and Training, Hon. Christopher Pyne MP, commented that the legislation is “about ensuring equity and fairness for all Australians with HELP or TSL debts, and about maintaining the stability and security of our education and training systems.”


Mr Pyne noted that “under the current system, Australians overseas are able to make voluntary repayments to the Australian Taxation Office but are not under any legal obligation to repay their debt to the Australian taxpayer.” In response to this situation Mr Pyne stated that “now, for the first time, Australians who live and work overseas will be required to pay back the same amount of their HELP or TSL debt as they would if they were living and working in Australia. This is a matter of equity. It is also a matter of sustainability, ensuring the quality of future education in Australia, and being one of the reasonable measures needed to maximise the repayment of debts to the taxpayers while preserving the income contingent nature of our student and trade loans.”


The measure will save more than $25 million from 2015–16 to 2018–19 and more than $150 million over 10 years in fiscal balance terms. Mr Pyne noted that “the repayment system will uphold the


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income-contingent nature of our student loans system—a system that is the envy of the world—by only requiring those who earn above the minimum repayment threshold to make the repayments they would have to make if they were in Australia.” In 2015 HELP and trade support loan debtors in Australia only begin to repay their debt when they earn over $54,126 per annum, after which borrowers pay four per cent of their income towards their debt. Mr Pyne advised that “under our proposed higher education reforms, there would be a new minimum repayment income threshold of $50,638 in 2016–17, and the new minimum repayment would be two per cent per year. Australians living overseas would only begin to repay their debts when their income reaches the equivalent amount.” During debate in the Senate, Senator Helen Polley noted that Labor would support the legislation commenting that the measures are the “first step towards recovering unpaid HECS [Higher Education Contribution Scheme] debts from Australians living overseas.” Senator Polley commented that “we regret, however, that the government has taken so long to introduce this measure, which it foreshadowed shortly after the 2014 budget. There is no mystery about the reason for the delay. For most of the past 18 months the government has been preoccupied with its agenda to deregulate university fees and cut funding for student places.” Senator Robert Simms, Australian Greens, commented that he was “sceptical about the ability of this measure to raise even the pitiful amount of revenue that has


been projected, requiring, as it does, the self- registration of foreign residents and overseas travellers. Even with the punitive regime that this Bill requires, with the tax office potentially hovering over anyone who fails to sign up before going on a backpacking trip around South America or South-East Asia, I have much less hope than the government at the revenue-raising possibilities involved here.” Senator Simms concluded that “even if these projections of potential revenue turn out to be correct, the Greens would not support this Bill. Not only is it evidence of a government with distorted priorities but it is poorly crafted and it contains some serious procedural problems that we will seek to amend.” Senator Simms noted that “the first reservation that the Greens have with this Bill is the requirement that those with existing HELP or TSL debt who are intending to travel overseas for more than six months after the commencement of the Bill have only up to seven days to register with the Australian Taxation Office. Failing to comply with this would amount to a failure to comply with the Taxation Administration Act, with a roughly equivalent punishment. Additionally, foreign residents with assessed worldwide income above the repayment threshold must pay an amount equivalent to the repayment that they would make if they were an Australian resident. The government has entirely put the onus on the individual to not only be aware of their responsibilities in this Bill but also assess whether they are in fact over the assessable worldwide income. It is a bit onerous to expect people living overseas to keep up to date with the happenings in Australian politics.”


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