🌏 GC's World Class Health + Exy HECS
🌏 GC's World Class Health + Exy HECS
Today’s newsletter is 1051 words: 4 minute read.
You like seeing animals at the zoo, but do they like seeing you? A UK study found that parrots and elephants enjoy visitors more than others, among those not so enthused by humans: frogs, ostriches, rhinos, hippos, kangaroos, and camels.
Good luck getting on the next ark.
Thursday, June 1.
In today’s email:
GC’s World Class Health: The new beating heart starts
Last Week’s Poll Results: Revealed
Exy HECS: The un-Australian, unspoken extra cost of learning
Trending: Big dog pollies on the coast + a bitta’ maroon
Around the Web (Snippets): GC Careers Fest kick-of, the first Aussie social media platform and better internet for the bush
Gold Coast Housing Movements
Weekend weather and surf:
1. One Big Thing: GCs World-Class Health
Happening now:
Construction started on a world-class $154 million Centre of Excellence in the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP), which will be known as RDX.
Heart starter
Through its NZX-listed fund, Northwest Healthcare Properties turned a bitta’ dirt this week to start the new home to life science research, development, and clinical application excellence right here on the Gold Coast.
As the new beating heart of the GCHKP and strategically positioned within Queensland’s government 9.5-hectare development area, Lumina is one of Queensland’s most significant health and education precincts.
Treat em’ green, keep em keen
The plans for the 6-Star Green Star RDX building include interconnectivity with the Gold Coast Private Hospital.
World-class
RDX will be occupied with cutting-edge health and science technology leaders such as Philips and clinicians, including renowned interventional neuroradiologists Dr Hal Rice and Dr Laetitia de Villiers.
What people say
The Hon. Stirling Hinchliffe, Minister for Tourism, Innovation and Sport, praised the upcoming building as a crown jewel in the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct, advancing it as a top healthcare and knowledge hub in the Asia-Pacific.
Northwest's CEO, Craig Mitchell, proudly discussed the start of construction, contributing to their $700 million Queensland portfolio and $850 million development five-year pipeline.
By creating a world-class facility to attract the best people in the industry and encourage further investment in research, development, and training, we’ll make a substantial commitment to the broader healthcare industry into the future, in Queensland and beyond. “, Northwest CEO Australia and New Zealand and President, Craig Mitchell, said as he turned a shovel of GC earth.
The GC Crown Jewel
This site is an absolute gem as a technological leader in healthcare R&D and applied life sciences and enhances the City’s leadership in high-tech, fintech, space travel, and entertainment capabilities.
However, the central jewel in the Gold Coast Crown is still a growing tourism industry.
Last Week’s Reader Poll Results
2. Exy HECS
Happening now
For the more than 3 million Australians who owe student debt over 11 months old, your loan has been reindexed by 7.1%…. today!
Ok, cool. What’s indexation?
Put simply, it’s a bit of a fee that is added to your HECS balance to keep it balanced against the economy and market.
Is this amount normal?
Nope.
Over the past ten years, the annual reindexing of HECS-HELP debt has averaged only 2%.
But what’s normal in a post-Covid world..
High inflation means high indexation, and that’s the roll of the dice.
Debt to date
With an average national student debt is $24,770.75, an extra $1758.72 will be added to the total today to your loan (or someone you know).
The big rip off
Once you earn $48,361, or more, a bit of your weekly salary goes to pay your HECS debt.
That’s fine.
What isn’t fine is that 99.9% of people assume this weekly portion is paid directly off the loan.
It isn’t!
Um, what?
When indexation does come around (every June 1), your HECS debt should have the year’s worth of weekly payments deducted… and to think that would be..
WRONG
Your weekly payment is held but not deducted from the loan until after June 1, which means you’ve been charged interest on the amount owing from a year ago, despite paying it off all year.
What the people say
Treasurer Jim Chalmers avoided the elephant in the room when he explained reindexing in April before today’s indexation announcement:
“The important thing to remember about student debt is that the repayments go up when your wages go up when your salary goes up. This is a normal indexation; that's how the system works.”
Kate Hill, an executive at Futurity Investment Group, put it in more relevant terms,” Many people view HECS debt as cheap, interest-free loans; however, with these indexation levels being charged on an amount that hasn’t taken into consideration yearly contributions, it's a view that's clearly flawed in this new reality," she said.
A Dent in the Aussie Dream
Broader implications of this payment system are real.
When applying for a loan to buy a car or home, the burden of student debt on a personal balance sheet will make lenders hesitate.
If a loan is approved, it will most likely be categorised as riskier, which in banker’s lingo means HIGHER INTEREST RATES.
With things hard enough, this system needs a bit of a good look.
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3. Trending
Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton and our very own Mayor Tom Tate.. blowing up GC Reddit.
And, of course… a bit of this 26-18 🙌
4. Around The Web (Snippets)
Australia’s First Social Media: A new platform for business owners
Bush Tele: Bush coastal suburbs to get city-speed internet
GC Careers Fest Kick-off: One of the largest events of its kind in Queensland
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