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Students visit the University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on March 11, 2021. (PHOTO \/ XINHUA)<\/p>\nStudents visit the University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on March 11, 2021. (PHOTO \/ XINHUA)<\/p>\n
SYDNEY – Australia\u2019s parliament on Thursday passed a law to cut student loans by 20 percent, wiping more than A$16 billion ($10.31 billion) in debt for 3 million people, and fulfilling a key election promise to help mitigate the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n
The law is the first passed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese<\/a>\u2019s center-left Labor Party<\/a> since being re-elected in May with one of the country’s largest-ever majorities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe promised cutting student debt would be the first thing we did back in parliament \u2013 and that\u2019s exactly what we’ve done,\u201d Albanese said in a statement.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Australian universities face funding woes<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cGetting an education shouldn’t mean a lifetime of debt.\u201d Education Minister Jason Clare<\/a> said the measure would help \u201ctake a weight\u201d off the backs of young people.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung Australians don’t always see something for them on the ballot paper, but they did this year and they voted for it in their millions,\u201d he said at a press conference. \u201cAnd we’re repaying now the trust that these young Australians have placed in us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Millennials and Generation Z made up 43 percent of the 18 million people enrolled to vote in Australia\u2019s May general election, outnumbering Baby Boomers.<\/p>\n Seizing on the generational shift, Labor made cutting student debt a key election promise, framing it as a measure to ease living costs and tackle intergenerational inequality.<\/p>\n