Income Equality

Young people are facing a rental crisis, a housing crisis and a cost of living crisis. It feels impossible to move forward in life, despite doing what I thought would be best for my future by gaining a professional career. Instead, I slogged through 6 years of full time uni working part time on minimum wage, and am then punished with a $150k hecs debt. Meanwhile I see older generations thriving, knowing they had a huge leg up from their free education and cheap housing. Something needs to be done

I went to uni and gained a Bachelor of Social Work (Honors). I did 1000 hours of placement which I was not paid for, in fact, I paid just under $7000 for the privilege of working for free in 2 government agencies. I am now watching my HECS debt increase due to indexing, even though I am making payments. I am employed, working in the community sector with service users to support them in achieving positive outcomes. Positive outcomes which benefit the government. Free university education benefits society. I am punished by banks for having a HECS debt as it is used to assess my loan serviceability. Why do we continue to punish those who go to university? Our allied health workers, doctors, nurses, scientists, counselors, educators, veterinarians, lawyers, police officers, musicians, artists and many more including politicians. University education should be encouraged, not greed of the 5% of top income earners. FREE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION, WIPE OUR HECS DEBTS!!