Aussie expats in for 'rude shock' if they fail to pay off HECS debts

Australian Community Media

Living overseas used to be considered a ‘free pass’ on compulsory repayments, but that ended when the overseas debt recovery bill was introduced in 2017.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 So I actually looked at the amount

00:27 that had gone up just recently.

00:29 And yeah, it was a lot more than it

00:31 had been in previous years.

00:32 It was like 7.1% or something.

00:35 That's a lot.

00:36 7% on 40,000 is like, what, 2,800 or something.

00:40 That's a lot to go in one year.

00:43 I think as long as my wages were going up at the same amount,

00:47 it wouldn't be a huge deal for me either.

00:49 But at the same time, I feel like from what I'm hearing

00:54 and observing, wages are a little bit behind in terms

00:58 of where inflation is at.

01:01 And the Australian government collects more money from HECS

01:10 than it does from the petroleum resource rent tax.

01:15 Thank you, children.

01:17 You're the backbone of our economy.

01:22 So for me, education is quite possibly

01:25 one of the most important things that a society can focus on.

01:29 It's about having a good understanding of the world

01:32 and, I guess, just contributing to a society that

01:34 tries to understand things better and better

01:37 rather than just remaining ignorant.

01:39 And so for that reason, I tend to think

01:41 that more should be done to make it more accessible to people,

01:45 which would basically mean, I guess,

01:48 not having $40,000, $50,000 debts hanging

01:52 over people's heads.

01:53 We've worked in the past.

01:54 People were able to get free education in the past,

01:56 and I feel like surely we can do that again.

01:59 (gentle music)

02:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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