Australian officials have kept mum on the prospect of student debt relief measures, as independent and opposition parliamentarians pressure the government over ¡°crippling¡± loan repayments.

Grilled by the Senate¡¯s economics committee, finance minister Katy Gallagher said she was ¡°not aware¡± of any plans to reform the student debt repayment system managed by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), which falls under her responsibility.

Tax officials were equally uninformed. ¡°That would be a matter for the Department of Education, whether they wish to make a policy change,¡± said deputy commissioner David Allen.

Similar questions the following night, from members of the Senate¡¯s education and employment committee, elicited similar responses.

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¡°There is a serious issue when it comes to [university] affordability,¡± assistant education minister Anthony Chisholm acknowledged. ¡°It¡¯s one I know [education] minister [Jason] Clare has taken seriously and has tasked the Universities Accord panel to report on. And we expect that report in coming weeks.¡±

Mr Clare has signalled that the report, due to be released publicly in late February, might contain debt relief measures.

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¡°The Australian Universities Accord has looked at a range of important issues, including access and affordability and how the Help [Higher Education Loan Programme] system interacts with the tax system,¡± he?.

Independent senators have raised concerns about student debt indexation ¨C particularly an indexation mark-up on?money already repaid through months of compulsory repayments.

Shadow education minister Sarah Henderson blamed the system¡¯s failure to account for repayments in ¡°real¡± time. ¡°If someone with a A$20,000 [?10,400] loan pays off A$5,000 during the financial year, they will be indexed on the full A$20,000 ¨C not the lower balance of A$15,000,¡± she said. ¡°This is not right and not fair.¡±

Crossbenchers shared her assessment. ¡°There¡¯s surely a way to not charge people¡­on money that they¡¯ve already paid off,¡± independent senator David Pocock told the ABC.

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His Tasmanian counterpart Jacqui Lambie said it amounted to ¡°profiting off our kids¡±, while North Sydney representative Kylea Tink labelled the anomaly ¡°ridiculous and egregious¡±.

Deputy taxation commissioner Allen told the economics committee that changing the system would be ¡°quite complex and expensive. We¡¯ve not considered other options, because that¡¯s being managed by the Department of Education.¡±

In an answer to a question on notice from Ms Henderson, the ATO outlined the difficulties. Real-time payments would require ¡°significant legislative and system redesign¡± for both the tax office and employers, it said.

Student loan repayments would have to be ¡°tagged¡± so that they could be distinguished from other tax payments. This would be ¡°extremely complex and come at a considerable financial and time cost¡± to the ATO, employers and payroll systems providers.

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¡°Further complexities would arise for people that work part of the year or for people with variable income such as casual employees, shift workers or people taking parental leave,¡± the office said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com