Bill Shorten has vowed to write off the debts of 100,000 university students on science, technology, engineering and maths courses if Labor wins the next election, expanding a policy approach pursued by the Rudd government.

The opposition leader pitched several education policies in his budget reply speech on Thursday, including the student loans measure, which the party said would cost the budget bottom line $45m over the next four years.

The Coalition immediately went on the attack, arguing the cost was vastly underestimated and that Labor was revisiting a policy approach the Gillard government had abandoned.



But Labor sources sought to explain the $45m figure by saying the first such degrees would be offered in 2017 and the loans would not be written off until students graduated, so the major impact was after the current forward estimates.

In his speech, Shorten declared that “Australia must get smarter” and said: “We will write off the Hecs debt of 100,000 science, technology, engineering and maths [Stem] students.”

Labor’s accompanying fact sheet said the policy would begin with 20,000 award degrees in 2017 and was designed to recognise the significant public benefit of growing Australia’s capacity in Stem fields.



It would also be structured to provide an incentive to complete the course, with the loan not being written off if the student fails to graduate. Selection criteria would seek to increase enrolments in underrepresented groups, including women.

“With only 20% of engineering and related technologies enrolments, and 14% in information technology enrolments, boosting the representation of women in Stem degrees will be a priority,” the policy document said.

“Labor will consult with the chief scientist, and work with universities and state governments to develop criteria, and selection criteria around access to the scheme and the eligible courses and use of the grants.”



The education minister, Christopher Pyne, suggested the real cost of the policy would be “more like $2.25bn”.

“Labor proposes the same failed Hecs discount policy they abolished themselves when they were in government, adding $1.35bn to students’ debts,” Pyne said.



In 2009, the Rudd government reduced student contributions for mathematics, statistics and science courses from $7,260 per unit to $4,077 in a bid to spur enrolments.

But the Gillard government decided to return student contributions for mathematics, statistics and science units to the “band 2” amount, estimated to be $8,353 in 2013, according to a parliamentary paper.

Labor said on Thursday that previous incentives to study Stem subjects had been “small, piecemeal and largely unsuccessful”.

Shorten also pledged to establish a five-year teacher training fund that would support 5,000 primary and secondary teachers a year to undertake professional development in Stem disciplines, at a cost of $127m over four years.



The party also earmarked $133m to provide 25,000 teaching scholarships over five years to new and recent graduates of Stem degrees to encourage them to continue their study and become a Stem teacher.



Shorten did not outline new budget offsets to fund the policies. But he spoke of the importance of properly valuing teachers and equipping children for the skills of the 21st century.

“Digital technologies, computer science and coding – the language of computers and technology – should be taught in every primary and secondary school in Australia, and a Shorten Labor government will make this a national priority,” Shorten said.