Want to Join Us?
We're on a mission to make education free again, the way it was under Gough Whitlam.
Help make TAFE and uni free.
Want to Join Us?
We're on a mission to make education free again, the way it was under Gough Whitlam.
Help make TAFE and uni free.
Want to Join Us?
We're on a mission to make education free again, the way it was under Gough Whitlam.
Help make TAFE and uni free.
Want to Join Us?
We're on a mission to make education free again, the way it was under Gough Whitlam.
Help make TAFE and uni free.
EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT
EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT
EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT
EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT
It's time to roll back the clock.
It's time to roll back the clock.
It's time to roll back the clock.
"When government makes opportunities for any of the citizens, it makes them for all the citizens… We are all diminished when any of us are denied proper education. " –– Gough Whitlam
Education is the fundamental ingredient for equity and opportunity in society. At one point, we all knew this. Our politicians have since forgotten it.
When we invest in education, we invest in every Australian. For more than a decade, we lived by that belief. In 1974, Gough Whitlam made tertiary education free. Any Australian regardless of wealth could walk into a university and learn, and the results were transformative. Enrollment surged, children of working class families became doctors, teachers, and engineers, while the nation became smarter, fairer, and more ambitious.
But education in Australia has since regressed. In 1989, the Hawke government introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and with it debt crept in under the promise of 'sharing the cost'. Since then, fees have climbed with each budget cycle, while indexation allows the debt to spiral, and the idea of education as a public good has been replaced with the language of loans and liabilities.
It is time to roll the clock back to when education was an investment in the future generations.
"When government makes opportunities for any of the citizens, it makes them for all the citizens… We are all diminished when any of us are denied proper education. " –– Gough Whitlam
Education is the fundamental ingredient for equity and opportunity in society. At one point, we all knew this. Our politicians have since forgotten it.
When we invest in education, we invest in every Australian. For more than a decade, we lived by that belief. In 1974, Gough Whitlam made tertiary education free. Any Australian regardless of wealth could walk into a university and learn, and the results were transformative. Enrollment surged, children of working class families became doctors, teachers, and engineers, while the nation became smarter, fairer, and more ambitious.
But education in Australia has since regressed. In 1989, the Hawke government introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and with it debt crept in under the promise of 'sharing the cost'. Since then, fees have climbed with each budget cycle, while indexation allows the debt to spiral, and the idea of education as a public good has been replaced with the language of loans and liabilities.
It is time to roll the clock back to when education was an investment in the future generations.
"When government makes opportunities for any of the citizens, it makes them for all the citizens… We are all diminished when any of us are denied proper education. " –– Gough Whitlam
Education is the fundamental ingredient for equity and opportunity in society. At one point, we all knew this. Our politicians have since forgotten it.
When we invest in education, we invest in every Australian. For more than a decade, we lived by that belief. In 1974, Gough Whitlam made tertiary education free. Any Australian regardless of wealth could walk into a university and learn, and the results were transformative. Enrollment surged, children of working class families became doctors, teachers, and engineers, while the nation became smarter, fairer, and more ambitious.
But education in Australia has since regressed. In 1989, the Hawke government introduced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and with it debt crept in under the promise of 'sharing the cost'. Since then, fees have climbed with each budget cycle, while indexation allows the debt to spiral, and the idea of education as a public good has been replaced with the language of loans and liabilities.
It is time to roll the clock back to when education was an investment in the future generations.
IVORY SHACKLES
IVORY SHACKLES
IVORY SHACKLES
IVORY SHACKLES
The student debt crisis.
The student debt crisis.
The student debt crisis.
In the 70s and 80s, university was free.
Now, Australians with student loans owe a combined $78 billion in student debt. With indexation, it is common that after a year of paying off your loan, you are back to where you started. What's worse, because the loans are tied to the consumer price index, the debt grows faster than wages, faster than the Reserve Bank's interest rates.
The burden is invisible but everywhere. Young Australians delay buying homes, starting families or retraining because of a system that punishes ambition. Teachers, nurses, and paramedics - the heroes serving the public - are among the most indebted. Meanwhile, approximately one in four of our politicians benefited from free university. How is this fair?
Meanwhile, Australia’s universities depend on these debts to fund themselves. We have created a machine that runs on the aspiration of the young. It does not have to be this way.
In the 70s and 80s, university was free.
Now, Australians with student loans owe a combined $78 billion in student debt. With indexation, it is common that after a year of paying off your loan, you are back to where you started. What's worse, because the loans are tied to the consumer price index, the debt grows faster than wages, faster than the Reserve Bank's interest rates.
The burden is invisible but everywhere. Young Australians delay buying homes, starting families or retraining because of a system that punishes ambition. Teachers, nurses, and paramedics - the heroes serving the public - are among the most indebted. Meanwhile, approximately one in four of our politicians benefited from free university. How is this fair?
Meanwhile, Australia’s universities depend on these debts to fund themselves. We have created a machine that runs on the aspiration of the young. It does not have to be this way.
In the 70s and 80s, university was free.
Now, Australians with student loans owe a combined $78 billion in student debt. With indexation, it is common that after a year of paying off your loan, you are back to where you started. What's worse, because the loans are tied to the consumer price index, the debt grows faster than wages, faster than the Reserve Bank's interest rates.
The burden is invisible but everywhere. Young Australians delay buying homes, starting families or retraining because of a system that punishes ambition. Teachers, nurses, and paramedics - the heroes serving the public - are among the most indebted. Meanwhile, approximately one in four of our politicians benefited from free university. How is this fair?
Meanwhile, Australia’s universities depend on these debts to fund themselves. We have created a machine that runs on the aspiration of the young. It does not have to be this way.
WHO PAYS?
WHO PAYS?
WHO PAYS?
WHO PAYS?
Tax the mining companies.
Tax the mining companies.
Tax the mining companies.
Student loan repayments contribute less to the tax office than the mining companies. Roughly $5 billion was collected from graduates in 2023, versus $1.8 billion from the billionaire-owned oil and gas giants exporting our natural wealth.
Research shows that Australia currently collects far less from the resources sector than comparable jurisdictions. A 2024 study by The Australia Institute, Australia’s Great Gas Giveaway, found that around 60 percent of gas exports paid no royalty revenue, costing the public roughly $13.3 billion in foregone royalties over four years.
This is a moral failure. We tax learning more heavily than exploitation. We reward mining lobbyists and penalise future generations of workers. Australia has drifted from a country that made things fair to one that mortgages its future talent.
Northern Europe shows what happens when a nation keeps ownership of its natural wealth. In Norway, the state holds the oil fields through Equinor, a company created in 1972 to serve the public interest. The profits from extraction are paid into the Government Pension Fund Global, now worth more than one and a half trillion US dollars. That fund pays for free university education, healthcare, and a standard of living that ranks among the highest in the world. Finland and Denmark follow the same principle. The state takes a fair share of the value it owns and invests it in people. These countries treat resources as belonging to the public, not private corporations. Australia did the opposite, and it continues to cost us billions.
Australia should be the best country in the world to receive an education. Education is national infrastructure; it should be treated with the same seriousness as energy or transport.
Student loan repayments contribute less to the tax office than the mining companies. Roughly $5 billion was collected from graduates in 2023, versus $1.8 billion from the billionaire-owned oil and gas giants exporting our natural wealth.
Research shows that Australia currently collects far less from the resources sector than comparable jurisdictions. A 2024 study by The Australia Institute, Australia’s Great Gas Giveaway, found that around 60 percent of gas exports paid no royalty revenue, costing the public roughly $13.3 billion in foregone royalties over four years.
This is a moral failure. We tax learning more heavily than exploitation. We reward mining lobbyists and penalise future generations of workers. Australia has drifted from a country that made things fair to one that mortgages its future talent.
Northern Europe shows what happens when a nation keeps ownership of its natural wealth. In Norway, the state holds the oil fields through Equinor, a company created in 1972 to serve the public interest. The profits from extraction are paid into the Government Pension Fund Global, now worth more than one and a half trillion US dollars. That fund pays for free university education, healthcare, and a standard of living that ranks among the highest in the world. Finland and Denmark follow the same principle. The state takes a fair share of the value it owns and invests it in people. These countries treat resources as belonging to the public, not private corporations. Australia did the opposite, and it continues to cost us billions.
Australia should be the best country in the world to receive an education. Education is national infrastructure; it should be treated with the same seriousness as energy or transport.
Student loan repayments contribute less to the tax office than the mining companies. Roughly $5 billion was collected from graduates in 2023, versus $1.8 billion from the billionaire-owned oil and gas giants exporting our natural wealth.
Research shows that Australia currently collects far less from the resources sector than comparable jurisdictions. A 2024 study by The Australia Institute, Australia’s Great Gas Giveaway, found that around 60 percent of gas exports paid no royalty revenue, costing the public roughly $13.3 billion in foregone royalties over four years.
This is a moral failure. We tax learning more heavily than exploitation. We reward mining lobbyists and penalise future generations of workers. Australia has drifted from a country that made things fair to one that mortgages its future talent.
Northern Europe shows what happens when a nation keeps ownership of its natural wealth. In Norway, the state holds the oil fields through Equinor, a company created in 1972 to serve the public interest. The profits from extraction are paid into the Government Pension Fund Global, now worth more than one and a half trillion US dollars. That fund pays for free university education, healthcare, and a standard of living that ranks among the highest in the world. Finland and Denmark follow the same principle. The state takes a fair share of the value it owns and invests it in people. These countries treat resources as belonging to the public, not private corporations. Australia did the opposite, and it continues to cost us billions.
Australia should be the best country in the world to receive an education. Education is national infrastructure; it should be treated with the same seriousness as energy or transport.
OUR VISION
OUR VISION
OUR VISION
OUR VISION
Making education free again.
Making education free again.
Making education free again.
By contesting seats in the Victorian upper house, we will gain leverage over the government in power and push for a major increase in public education funding.
This is not about protest or opposition; it is about pressure and results. Once we gain our foothold in Victoria, we will contest the federal Senate to make free education a national commitment.
We are not left wing or right wing, but united by a single goal: restoring the promise that every Australian can learn, build and contribute without a lifetime of debt.
When I asked my English girlfriend to move to Melbourne with me, her father asked me: “Is it safe?”
I said yes - but then I looked into it.
I read the headlines. I reconnected with my friends from high school. I learned that sexual assault in Victoria had risen sharply, and that almost everyone I knew could name a woman who’d been hurt or harassed. What shocked me most was the silence, the sense that the system had normalised it.
I decided to do something about it. Five friends joined me to form Women’s Safety, a not for profit incorporated association with one goal: to make Australia the safest country in the world.
We’re starting with a march to give survivors and reformers a platform, to bring attention to the failures of our justice system and to build a movement that can convert public pressure into legislative reform at the state and the national level.
By contesting seats in the Victorian upper house, we will gain leverage over the government in power and push for a major increase in public education funding.
This is not about protest or opposition; it is about pressure and results. Once we gain our foothold in Victoria, we will contest the federal Senate to make free education a national commitment.
We are not left wing or right wing, but united by a single goal: restoring the promise that every Australian can learn, build and contribute without a lifetime of debt.
CONTACT US
CONTACT US
CONTACT US
Volunteers
If you would like to join our growing team of 60 volunteers, are interested in standing for parliament, or joining one of our committees, we want to hear from you! Please email Thomas at secretary@freetafefreeuni.org.
Media
If you are a journalist, content creator or podcast interested in covering the launch of Free TAFE Free Uni, please email our media team at media@freetafefreeuni.org.
Supporters and Contributors
We are seeking expressions of interest from Australian survivors, advocates and reform-minded citizens who want to contribute to Women’s Safety. If you would like to help, please email secretary@womenssafetymarch.org.
Media and Coverage
If you are an NGO, advocate, content creator, influencer or journalist and would like to support or cover the march, please email secretary@womenssafetymarch.org. Accredited media will be able to interview speakers and organisers and have designated press access along the route and at Parliament House on the day.