It is Federal Election week, and these students are super excited to share what their party stands for — so much so, that they agreed to put it out into the student world through your favourite form of student media (Honi Soit).
Here are the rules:
Each candidate was sent the questions with specific word counts attached. All candidates received the same information and deadline. The candidates were given two weeks to send us their well-thought out answers.
Honi asked them to answer the questions based on their party’s political views, with the option to compare these with other parties.
Honi has not editorialised the given answers. They have been published exactly how they were sent to us. Down to the full stop!
Redacted, Liberal Party
Honi reached out to a particularly prominent Liberal figure on campus.
Whilst they agreed to join in the debate in haste, after multiple extended deadlines, they failed to provide us with their arguments.
It could be said that, perhaps, they were concerned about the implications of not being pro-Palestine, pro-worker, or outing their party’s borderline fascist views.
Perhaps this kind of foresight and competence is what we have to look forward to with a Liberal governance.
Angus Fisher, Labor Party
Angus Fisher is the current President of the Student Representative Council (SRC), and a dedicated unionist.
Angus is a member of NSW Labor Students and Young Labor Left. He is studying a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) majoring in Economics and Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management. During his time at university, he has organised and taken part in many successful campaigns. He was an organiser of Students for Drug Reform. Through this, he attended the NSW Drug Summit, which resulted in a NSW trial for pill-testing. Angus was a major contributor to the Students for Yes campaign, which is the reason he got further involved in politics. Currently, he advocates for free speech on campus, particularly surrounding Palestine, fighting against the Campus Access Policy and university repression. You will see him at his fortnightly SRC stalls and BBQs, where he’s always happy to talk.
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1. What policies does your party support that will directly benefit university students, both domestic and international?
Labor is committed to rebuilding a fairer, more inclusive university system. From the Universities Accord, they have already wiped out over $3 billion in student debt through indexation reform, implemented the National Student Ombudsman to address student grievances such as student safety and welfare, partially paid placements, and a minimum SSAF allocation of 40% to student-led organisations.
Labor has reintroduced post-study work rights for international graduates and improved visa processing to ensure Australia remains a welcoming study destination. They are also cracking down on exploitative university workloads and casualisation through the Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act 2024 to ensure students and staff are treated fairly. The rates of Youth Allowance and the Parental Income Threshold increased under this Labor government.
2. What’s your party’s stance on the genocide in Palestine? What is your party’s stance on an arms embargo on Israel?
Labor unequivocally condemns the mass killing of civilians in Gaza. Since 2021, the federal ALP platform has supported the recognition of a Palestinian state. They support an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages.
Labor has called for Israel to comply with international law and cease its devastating military campaign against the people of Gaza. Under Labor, Australia has voted at the UN for resolutions calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, recognising Palestine as qualified for full UN membership, and calling to end Israeli occupation in the occupied Palestinian territories. They believe in a just and enduring two-state solution with a permanent end to hostilities. Labor supports investigations into war crimes by all parties, and backs Australia referring the situation in Gaza to the International Criminal Court.
Under this government, Australia does not currently export weapons to Israel, has no direct military sales to Israel, and supports rigorous arms export controls. The government is actively reviewing export permits and support measures consistent with an arms embargo on any country violating international humanitarian law. A re-elected Labor government will hopefully follow Spain and Ireland in recognising Palestine in law.
3. What plans does your party have to address the housing crisis and to combat the idea that housing is an investment rather than a right? How does this benefit young people and renters?
Labor believes housing is a human right, not just a commodity for investors. The key goal is boosting supply. The Albanese Government has committed over $32 billion to tackle the housing crisis through the National Housing Accord. They are delivering 1.2 million new homes, including 40,000 social and affordable dwellings, and creating incentives for build-to-rent developments to ease rental pressure.
First home buyers are better off under Labor, they have announced they will spend $10 billion to build 100,000 new homes across the country, reserved for first home buyers and be able to buy homes with a 5% deposit. More help is available through shared equity schemes and increasing investment in crisis accommodation.
Labor has expanded Commonwealth Rent Assistance, established the HAFF, and is supporting state governments to implement rent increase limits, ban rent bidding, and strengthen tenancy rights. These measures directly benefit young people, students, and renters by boosting supply and making renting fairer.
While the Coalition treated housing as a wealth-building tool for the few, Labor is treating it as essential infrastructure, like education and Medicare. Labor is encouraging rezoning and planning reforms to fast-track developments near public transport and university precincts.
4. How will your party aid students with the increasing burden of HECS-HELP debt?
A re-elected Labor government will wipe 20% off every HECS bill. For someone like me with a bill of $60,000, that is $12,000 off. Getting loans in the future, e.g a home loan, becomes a lot more achievable.
Labor will make TAFE free. That means students learning a trade will pay nothing and accrue no HECS-HELP debt, saving generations of vocational students for years to come.
Already, Labor has delivered real relief to students. In 2024, the government wiped more than $3 billion in student debt by scrapping the unfair indexation applied to loans in 2023, and committed to tying future indexation to the lower of CPI or wage growth. Debts will no longer outpace students’ earnings.
5. What has your party done to address the rising epidemic of femicide over the past two years?
Labor is committed to ending gender-based violence. The government has committed $2.3 billion to its National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children. They legislated 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, expanded the single parenting payment, and established the Leaving Violence Program, assisting women to leave violent relationships.
Additionally, Labor is investing in housing by building 4,000 social and affordable homes for women and children escaping violence and delivering 720 Safe Places of emergency accommodation nationwide. They have also strengthened the justice system’s response by making the family law system safer. Implementing all recommendations of the Respect@Work report further demonstrates Labor’s commitment to creating a safer environment for women and children.
6. Does your party support the Doctor’s Union strikes? What are your party’s plans to implement policies and funding to improve the access to physical and mental healthcare?
Federal Labor supports fair pay, safe working conditions, and the right of junior doctors to strike. The government’s 2022 IR reforms made it easier to initiate industrial action. They understand that burnout and under-resourcing endanger both workers and patients. That’s why Labor has made the biggest investment in Medicare’s history, tripling the bulk billing incentive, opening 87 Urgent Care Clinics, and funding 61 Medicare Mental Health Centres.
Labor is expanding this further: 50 new Urgent Care Clinics, 18 million extra bulk-billed GP visits annually, and the largest-ever GP training program. They’re also investing over $1 billion in free mental health services, $790 million in women’s health, and $1.7 billion to boost public hospitals. Labor believes healthcare must be universal.
Maddy Barry, Greens Party
Maddy Barry is the current President of the Sydney University Greens Club, and has experience working as an campaign organiser for the NSW Greens party.
Maddy is a passionate, decolonial feminist and socialist, striving for a better, more equitable world for all. After completing a Bachelors in Law and Justice at Queensland University of Technology in 2022, Maddy moved to Sydney to undertake a Masters in Cultural Studies at Sydney University, and is set to graduate at the end of this semester. While here, she has helped restart the Sydney University Greens Club after years of inactivity, and was elected President at their Inaugural General Meeting in 2024. She is also working as a campaign organiser for the NSW Greens party and is responsible for 11 campaigns around the state, including Sydney and Grayndler. Her main interest lies in the convergence of culture and politics, and how each informs the other, and she hopes to make a real difference through ongoing research, activism, and work with The Greens.
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1. What policies does your party support that will directly benefit university students, both domestic and international?
The Greens want to improve access to higher education by wiping all student debt and making TAFE and University free. Additionally, we will ensure students undertaking placements are paid a liveable wage, and drastically increase Youth Allowance and PhD stipend payments. We will also ensure that all public universities are fully funded by the government, end casualisation in the tertiary sector, ensuring secure jobs for staff.
This will mean better outcomes for students, who will be able to prioritise their study free from financial worry, and an end to the profit driven-model that pervades modern universities. We also oppose the racist, dog-whistling caps on international students that have been proposed by other parties, which will only hurt the education sector.
2. What’s your party’s stance on the genocide in Palestine? What is your party’s stance about an arms embargo on Israel?
The Greens stand with Amnesty International, the United Nations, and Human Rights Watch in their determination that the State of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza amount to genocide. The genocide has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced millions more. The Greens also recognise that the State of Israel continues to deny the right of self-determination to Palestinians and continues to dispossess them of their land and rights. For there to be peace there must be an end to the State of Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
We also continue to call on the Australian government to do its part in upholding international law by calling for a permanent and unconditional ceasefire and an end to the genocide, apartheid, and occupation. Furthermore the Greens support ending the two ways arms trade between Australia and the State of Israel, sanctioning members of the Israeli government directly involved in war crimes, and Australia formally intervening on behalf of South Africa at the International Court of Justice and the commitment to uphold International Criminal Court warrants, as crucial and necessary steps in the path to justice for Palestinians.
3. What plans does your party have to address the housing crisis and to combat the idea that housing is an investment rather than a right? How does this benefit young people and renters?
Housing is a human right, not a commodity. The Greens have a plan that will actually tackle the housing crisis, not just tinker around the edges. We will give renters and first home buyers a real chance by capping rent increases and phasing out negative gearing for investors with two or more properties. We will also regulate the banks to deliver lower mortgages, and invest in a government owned developer, building quality homes that renters and first home buyers can actually afford.
The Greens will also end homelessness by offering a permanent home and support services to those experiencing chronic homelessness, double homelessness and public housing funding, and build 610,000 affordable homes over the coming decade. Instead of requiring people to jump through hurdles to prove they are worthy of a home, the Greens plan to end homelessness says that everyone deserves a place to call a home. And we’ll fund this plan by taxing the 1 in 3 big corporations that currently pay no tax, and making big banks finally pay their fair share. This plan will put more of the weekly paycheck back in the pockets of people who desperately need it to make ends meet.
4. How will your party aid students with the increasing burden of HECS-HELP debt?
The Greens plan to wipe all HECS-HELP debt and re-establish free tertiary education — just like the Prime Minister benefited from when he was a student here. The Greens have been relentlessly campaigning for free education, and that pressure has worked, with Labor announcing a 20% cut to student debt.
However, when we made offers to Labor to pass it immediately and speed it through the Senate, they chose to block it and make it a condition of their re-election. While we are deeply disappointed in Labor, I think what we have seen is that with the Greens in the balance of power under a minority government, we can keep fighting to finish the job and wipe it all.
5. What has your party done to address the rising epidemic of femicide over the past two years?
We know shelters are full, we know legal services are turning away calls because they can’t answer them all, and we know there’s not enough domestic violence services across the country, and yet the government fails to act. One woman is killed in Australia every four days. Honestly, how many women have to die before the major parties take this issue seriously?
The Greens are calling for $15 billion over the next 12 years to ensure the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children (2022-2023) is fully funded, to help those who are forced to choose between homelessness and further violence. We will also invest in prevention and behaviour change programs to change the attitudes that underpin violence.
6. Does your party support the Doctor’s Union strikes? What are your party’s plans to implement policies and funding to improve the access to physical and mental healthcare?
The Greens stand in solidarity with all workers fighting for better pay and conditions, especially in a cost of living crisis, and especially when our government could easily fix these systemic issues. The Greens are working to expand medicare to include access to dental and mental health services, ensure there are no out-of-pocket costs for GP visits by increasing bulk-billing incentives and rebates, reduce the cost of PBS medicines, and invest an additional $30.6 billion in local public hospitals nationwide.
If there is money for submarines, room for handouts for coal & gas companies, and we can afford to let 1 in 3 big corporations pay no tax — we can certainly find the money to fund our public health services.
