07:30

The Coalition looks to have secured support for its higher education bill which lowers the threshold for repayments on student debts from $54,000 to $45,000 a year.



That will mean people earning $45,000 a year will have to pay at least 1% of their income ($450) towards their student loans, rising to 2% for those earning more than $52,000 ($1,040) and 3% for those earning more than $62,000 ($1,860).



The sums are a little different because the bill has changed since then, but our columnist Greg Jericho wrote in May 2017 that the effect for those with student loans is a steep increase in their effective rate of taxation and more money out of their pay packets.



The bill also imposes a lifetime cap on taxpayer loans of $104,440 for most students, but under changes students will be able to incur more debt up to this limit if they pay some back.



The bill is opposed by Labor and the Greens but has won wide crossbench support from David Leyonhjelm, Cory Bernardi and others. Centre Alliance’s Stirling Griff confirmed to Guardian Australia that his party supports the $45,000 threshold and the replenishing cap.



After moving amendments to lower the threshold even further, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is also on board, according to Fairfax media.

