University students hope calls to wipe HECS debt won't just be used as election sweeteners, as the Greens pledge to forgive all tertiary loans.
The minor party on Monday unveiled a $74 billion proposal to wipe all student debt for university students, which it said would provide cost-of-living relief, but one Labor MP described the plan as the Greens at their "absolute worst".
The measure comes after the federal government outlined its own plan to waive 20 per cent of HECS debts for students, but only if Labor wins the next election.
The proposal to scrap debt for those studying was welcomed by University of Sydney education officer Grace Street.
"It's something young people need, especially at that stage of your life because student debt follows you around for decades," she told AAP on Monday.
"It's really good to hear, as long as the fight for free eduction is not left by the wayside and that plans to wipe student debt go beyond the next election."
The Greens indicate the proposal to wipe student debt would be a key issue on the table for negotiations with the government, with opinion polls showing a hung parliament being likely.
Greens higher education spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi said the measure would provide greater cost-of-living relief.
"Wiping all student debt will mean that people have more money in their pockets for desperately needed things like making ends meet, paying their rent and saving up for a deposit for their first home," she told reporters in Melbourne.
"All student debt should be wiped. If Anthony Albanese could go to uni for free, so should everyone else."
Ms Street said the proposal laid out by the Greens could make education a key election battleground.
"It could be a good way to push Labor to do more, as a lot of those politicians went to university for free," she said.
"In one aspect it's a shame that (the debate around student debt) has come up only a few months until the election."
The government policy would affect $16 billion of student debt, with those with an average HECS bill of $27,600 to have it reduced by $5500.
Labor MP Patrick Gorman hit out at the Greens policy, saying it was little more than a thought bubble.
"This is the Greens, in my view, at their absolute worst," he told ABC TV on Monday.
"They never actually deliver on the things that they promise. They never deliver costed policies before an election. They always say 'oh, we'll sort it out if we ever get the chance'. I think people will see through this for what it is."
Senator Faruqi said younger people would stand to benefit from debt scrapping.
"Student debt can't be fixed because student debt shouldn't exist," she said.
"Wiping all student debt will make a tangible difference to so many people's lives, especially young people and women who bear the burden of the vast majority of student debt."
