The missing zero?

Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten squirmed through a press conference and was unable to explain the costings for his 100,000 STEM degree HECS write-off.

The Department of Education and Training has calculated, based on current degree costs, what it would cost to write off 100,000 STEM degrees : $2.25 billion – as a conservative estimate.

Today Mr Shorten stuck by his dodgy figures:

“Listen again we stand by what we’ve said. Across the forward estimates it’s $45 million.”

Mr Shorten’s numbers simply do not add up, something that should surprise no-one.

Here’s how it works, Bill Shorten:

· Currently a science and engineering student pays $7,567 a year.

· A three-year degree at $7,567 for each of three years will produce a HECS debt just above $22,500.

· Writing off 100,000 HECS debts of that size will cost the taxpayer at least $2.25 billion.

· The cost to the taxpayer is unavoidably in excess of $2.25 billion.

Writing off 20,000 places in the first year would cost $450,000,000 not $45,000,000. Did Bill forget a zero?

Either this is a critical error in costings or Mr Shorten is trying to hide a massive spending black hole from the Australian people.

This is a question of leadership for Bill Shorten. He must admit he made a mistake or produce his costings immediately.