Welcoming in the Hindu New Year, it was an honour to celebrate the first Diwali and Annakut at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Taylor, recently.
"Annakut" translates to "Mountain of Food". Hundreds of dishes had been prepared by community members, to create a spectacular Annakut display, ahead of the evening feast.
Also on display was the generosity of our vibrant Canberra Hindu community sharing the festivities with the hundreds of people that visited the temple across the weekend.
Thank you to the community leaders and all the volunteers who so generously included me in their celebrations and for their continual contribution to enhancing Canberra's multicultural community.
Katy's explainer: Cutting HECS Debt
I wanted to share with you some info on the exciting HECS changes that got announced by the Prime Minister to take some of the pressure off young Australians who are currently feeling the pinch.
What’s Changing?
The first policy is to wipe 20% off all student loan debts. This isn't just for uni debts; it also includes debts from TAFE courses and apprenticeship loans.
This change will wipe around $16 billion in student debt for around three million Australians.
The second policy focuses on making the repayment system fairer by cutting the repayment rate and increasing the amount you need to earn before you start paying the loan back. Basically, this means that anyone paying off a HECS debt will keep more of their pay each week instead of it going to their loan.
For someone on an income of $70,000 this will mean they will pay around $1,300 less per year in repayments.
The third policy is ensuring that Fee-Free Tafe is here to stay.
The Albanese Labor Government has introduced legislation to establish Fee-Free TAFE as an enduring feature of the national vocational education and training system, funding 100,000 Fee-Free TAFE places a year from 2027.
Building a Fairer Education System
Since coming to government in 2022, we have introduced a range of policies to make our tertiary education system fairer by:
* Wiping $3 billion in student debt
* Delivering 500,000 fee-free TAFE places
* Introducing paid placements for students in fields like nursing, teaching, midwifery, and social work
Peter Dutton's APS Cuts
Last week, I wrote an article in The Canberra Times about Peter Dutton's plan to decimate the services Australians rely on with a 20% cut to the Australian Public Service.
Peter Dutton's commitment to cut 36,000 jobs is a promise to leave veterans without the support they deserve, to make aged care pensioners and new parents wait longer for payments, to compromise our national security through cuts to Defence and Home Affairs. It's a promise that would cripple essential services, from biosecurity protection to cracking down on NDIS fraud.
In stark contrast, the Albanese Government has invested heavily in rebuilding the Australian Public Service (APS) after a decade of Coalition cuts and outsourcing. In doing so, we’ve cut wait times and started to bring service delivery back in line with what Australians expect.
You can read my whole article here (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1NRvD32Cx6/) .
Economic Update from the Finance Minister
New figures from the ABS show that headline inflation at 2.8 per cent is now the lowest it has been in almost four years.
We're coming at this inflation challenge from every conceivable and responsible angle and our efforts are making a difference.
Our policies, including energy rebates, and tax cuts for all Australians are making a meaningful difference and helping in the fight against inflation.
Since coming to office, we have reduced inflation significantly from the 6.1% rate we inherited, but we know that Australians are still doing it tough.
Our number one priority is getting on top of our inflation challenge without ignoring the risks to growth, and providing responsible cost of living relief where we can. If there are further measures we can take that don't add to inflation we will have a look at them.
