The Australian government¡¯s debt forgiveness pledge featured strongly among the cost of-living measures it has credited for its resounding victory in the 3 May election.

The governing Labor Party has increased its majority while the Liberal-National party opposition lost a swathe of sitting members, including its leader.

Like Canadian conservative leader Pierre Poilievre five days earlier, Peter Dutton lost his seat in a campaign overshadowed by external events. Pollsters had tipped a Labor victory, reasoning that voters would seek the stability of incumbency amid the global uncertainty of President Trump¡¯s trade war.

But analysts said the Trump effect should not be overestimated in a poll that appeared likely to consign the coalition to its lowest ever primary vote, while putting Labor in arguably its strongest position since the mid-20^th century.

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¡°We won the argument about cost-of-living,¡± treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC, when asked what had tipped the election in Labor¡¯s favour.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese promised to ¡°govern for every Australian¡± during a victory speech in his Sydney electorate. He singled out workers, aspiring home owners, women seeking equity, parents seeking cheaper childcare and ¡°every Australian who worked hard for the life-changing opportunity of higher education and wants 20 per cent cut from their student debt¡±.

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The debt forgiveness measure has been criticised as regressive, because it benefits only graduates ¨C who tend to attract higher incomes than people without degrees ¨C and arbitrary, because it does nothing to help people who have already paid off their student loans or have not yet started their degrees.

Critics say the government could tackle debt more effectively by unwinding 2021 reforms that more than doubled tuition for a swag of humanities, business and law courses, driving degree costs over A$50,000 (?24,000). But some say these changes will take time to unpick, and debt forgiveness is a reasonable midway step.

Albanese missed few opportunities to highlight the policy. During a pre-poll interview on the ¡°hallowed turf¡± of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, he enthused that the three million graduates set to benefit from debt forgiveness could fill the stadium 30 times over.

The policy appears to have worked as an election strategy. Labor won Dutton¡¯s seat of Dickson and the Melbourne seat of Menzies from Keith Wolahan, considered a potential future Liberal leader.

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The government also appeared to have wrested the seats of Brisbane and nearby Griffith from the Greens, and successfully defended its seats of Chisholm in Melbourne and Bennelong and Werriwa in Sydney. All these electorates have large populations of voters with student debt, according to the .

Overseas students will greet the Labor victory as the ¡°least worst outcome¡±, according to Varsha Balakrishnan, a former national secretary of the Council of International Students Australia.

An analysis of social media traffic by Voyage, an international education advisory company where Balakrishnan is head of insights, uncovered a ¡°confidence crisis¡± fuelled by election policies such as the coalition¡¯s proposal for A$5,000 visa application charges.

The election outcome ¡°signals a pause in the fear and unpredictability that have defined the past year¡±, Balakrishnan said. ¡°Students have faced prolonged visa delays, sudden fee increases and political rhetoric that has made them feel more like scapegoats than valued members of the community.

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¡°While this result may offer temporary relief, what students, parents and graduates need now is lasting post-election stability.¡±

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com