Open Email to the Prime Minister: The Hidden Cost of HECS
Subject: The Hidden Cost of HECS: A Call for Structural Equity in Education Debt
Dear Prime Minister,
I am writing to share with you a white paper that highlights a critical and largely unaddressed consequence of Australia’s HECS-HELP debt system: its disproportionate impact on women’s economic freedom, life choices, and long-term wellbeing.
While the proposed 20% debt reduction and indexation changes mark important progress, they remain structurally incomplete. They are built on the assumption of uniformity, ignoring how factors like caregiving, gender pay inequity, and reproductive decisions compound to stretch a student debt into a lifelong economic constraint—particularly for women.
This is not just a matter of policy design; it is a matter of structural justice.
The enclosed paper, When Her Future Becomes a Footnote to a Loan, reframes the conversation. It moves beyond spreadsheets and repayment schedules to ask a deeper question: what kind of freedom does education truly deliver if the debt that funds it quietly erodes autonomy, choice, and financial security for half the population?
We are calling on leaders across Parliament to:
Recognise the gendered impacts embedded in the current repayment framework
Advance reforms that address the lived economic realities of women, not just surface-level equity
Begin a national conversation on designing debt systems that reflect modern, inclusive life paths
This is a moment of opportunity—and responsibility. We ask you to read this paper not just as a policy document, but as a human account of how systems built without women in mind continue to constrain their futures.
Thank you for your time and consideration. We welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues further and would be honoured to brief your office directly.
Regards
Andrew (Andrij) Dyhin
Founder Chato International
Email andrew@chatointernational.com
Mob +61412501987