Australian PM says reducing student debt is re-elected govt’s first priority

Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told his government colleagues on Friday that reducing student debt would be the first legislative priority for his administration that was returned to power in the nation’s first election in which the Baby Boomer generation was outnumbered by younger voters.

Albanese addressed a crowded room full of centre-left Labour Party lawmakers in Parliament House for the first time since his government won an emphatic election victory on May 3.

The struggle a growing number of young Australians — particularly those burdened with student loans — face to buy their first home, due to soaring real estate prices and a lack of new housing construction was a major election issue.

Albanese said a bill to reduce student debt by 20% would be the first legislation to be introduced when Parliament resumes in late July.

“I think that’s important, not just in itself but for what it says about our commitment to intergenerational equity,” Albanese said. Baby Boomers are often defined as people born between World War II and 1964. Their needs have long dominated Australian election campaigns. As vote counting continued on Friday, Labour was on track to win 88 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form government. The party held 78 seats in the last parliament.

The conservative opposition alliance of parties was likely to claim only 41 seats.

Albanese praised the diversity of Labour’s elected lawmakers and said at least 57% of them are expected to be women once the vote counting is completed.