Timing is important – and that’s one of the clear shortfalls in the federal government’s surprise for young people with student loans over the weekend. The decision to limit increases in student debt via the federal Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) to the lowest rate between inflation or the wage price index – and the decision to announce it now – is clearly somewhat of a tilt at winning over young voters who will hit the polls next year, and was undoubtedly timed to make sure the news didn’t get lost in the commotion of the upcoming federal budget. Of course, it’s positive news. The nearly 290,000 signatures racked up on independent MP Monique Ryan’s petition to fix HECS debt may not all have been from young people, but it showed when they rally with the support of empathetic members of the wider community, change is possible and that their voices matter. It’s a welcome change for a demographic which has often been ignored in policymaking, and which has been hit especially hard by cost of living pressures.