For a year after the last election, barely a day went by without the government congratulating itself for one of the most successful vote-buying policies of all time: a one-off, 20 per cent reduction on all student loan debts that existed on June 1, 2025.The measure came at a whopping cost of $16 billion. Building on an earlier decision to change the indexation of loan repayments that saved graduates another $3 billion, the policy was never anything but a cost-of-living measure.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles