SenateDivision 1 · 30 Jul 2025

Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 per Cent) Bill 2025 - Second Reading - Student debts, paid placements

Not passed10 aye · 33 no

What this vote was about

The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). This means the usual second reading motion will remain unchanged. It was NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi (Greens) who introduced the amendment.

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add “, but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) students are being shackled by a lifetime of debt which is making the cost of living crisis worse, locking people out of the housing market, causing people to delay having families and crushing dreams of going to university,

(ii) the Government’s plan to wipe 20% of student debt amounts to only 7.9% when accounting for indexation,

(iii) a one-off student debt cut is meaningless for students starting today and graduating with $50,000 degrees due to the Government’s failure to reverse the fee hikes of the punitive Job-ready Graduates Package,

(iv) the student debt system cannot be fixed because student debt should not exist and higher education, like education at every level, is an essential public good that should be free, universal and provided by the Government; and

(v) all students experiencing placement poverty need urgent relief and should be paid for every hour of work they are required to do as part of their degree, at least at minimum wage, not a lesser supplementary amount; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

(i) wipe all student debt and return to free university and TAFE for all,

(ii) urgently reverse the fee hikes of the Job-ready Graduates Package; and

(iii) pay all students doing mandatory placements at no less than minimum wage rates”.

Context written by They Vote For You volunteers (ODbL), reproduced unchanged.

Second reading: The second reading vote decides whether the chamber agrees with the bill in principle. A second reading amendment attaches commentary or conditions to that agreement without changing the bill's text.

Related bills

Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025

By party

Party	Aye	No
Australian Labor Party	0	25
Australian Greens	10	1
Pauline Hanson's One Nation	0	3
Liberal–National Coalition	0	3
United Australia Party	0	1

Every vote

Other divisions this sitting day

What the Senate divided on around this vote, in order.

30 Jul 2025Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 per Cent) Bill 2025 - in Committee - Wipe all student debtSenate 10–33
30 Jul 2025Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 per Cent) Bill 2025 - in Committee - Cap HECS indexation at 3%Senate 8–38
30 Jul 2025Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 per Cent) Bill 2025 - in Committee - Remove indexation from student debtsSenate 10–34
30 Jul 2025Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 per Cent) Bill 2025 - in Committee - Accounting for withholding amountsSenate 10–33
30 Jul 2025Documents - Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water - Order for the Production of DocumentsSenate 18–29
30 Jul 2025Committees — Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy — Select Committee; AppointmentSenate 39–28
30 Jul 2025Documents - National Climate Risk Assessment and National Adaptation Plan - Order for the Production of DocumentsSenate 40–24
30 Jul 2025Documents - Australia's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism - Order for the Production of DocumentsSenate 13–31
30 Jul 2025Committees — Appropriations, Staffing and Security Committee; MembershipSenate 28–33
30 Jul 2025Committees — Appropriations, Staffing and Security Committee; MembershipSenate 33–25