Panel with Clint Stanaway and Sophie Scamps, Weekend Today

1 July 2023

CLINT STANAWAY: Welcome back to Weekend Today, it is the first of July which means Australians can now lodge their tax returns. And data out today shows many are planning to do so sooner than expected as they rely on the reimbursements to make ends meet amid this cost of living pressure. To discuss let's bring in today's talk is Victorian Senator Jane Hume in Melbourne and Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps in studio. Morning, ladies, thanks for your time genuinely good to you. First and foremost, for many this refund just goes to catching up on bills. Are you surprised about that?

JANE HUME: I'm not surprised, but I am sad. I mean, used to be that you get your tax return and you've used that as a sort of windfall game. That was money that would be put towards a holiday or for a treat with the family. But unfortunately, people are relying on their tax return now just to get by, and unfortunately this year, it's going to be smaller than they expected because of that Low and Middle Income Tax Offset that's been in place for the last two years that gave people an immediate $1,500 tax return when they put their return in that's come off this year. And there will be a lot of people that are getting used to that high tax return that just simply won't find it. I think it's going to be a shock to the system. Around 10 million Australians are going to be affected by the removal of that Low and Middle Income Tax Offset.

CLINT STANAWAY: Hey, Sophie to you, wave of national financial changes come into effect today as well. Will that do much to ease the financial burden?

SOPHIE SCAMPS: Look, I think we're in the middle of a cost of living crisis is a lot of people were doing particularly hard at the moment. So any kind of benefit is again the people people like like we've seen people are trying anything to try and ease that burden on the hip pocket. And I would say one thing about those tax returns is the the information is maybe wait to the end of July just to make sure that you're getting that third party information in and it's correct so you're not making mistakes and you are getting that full refund that you are you are entitled to.

CLINT STANAWAY: it's good advice moving on. Hundreds of students have been caught cheating on their final exams bad bad using everything from smartwatches notes, mobile phones. Sophie, serious cheating offenses have doubled in the last five years or so. Is tech making things easier?

SOPHIE SCAMPS: Look, both I think, that when we say doubled it's still 65, so it's not a huge amount and and cheating has always been there but AI is definitely throwing something new into the mix. And it's something we will have to look at how are we going to use AI to enrich our learning but not stifle critical thinking and creativity? But I liked the idea of oral exams, that's gonna make it tough isn't it.

CLINT STANAWAY: It is. Not much hiding there. Jane. Before smartwatches students had to rely on more old fashioned cheating mechanisms. The pencil case maybe I mean, I don't know, I never cheated. Did you?

JANE HUME: I wouldn't know anything about it. Allegedly, allegedly people would, you know, scratch things on the back of the ruler. I always found, allegedly, that if you write things on your school shoes by the time you've finished writing them on your school shoes you'd learnt it off by heart anyway, allegedly.

CLINT STANAWAY: Sophie, what about you? You're an angel right?

SOPHIE SCAMPS: Of course. Of course. Look I think that it's always been there. It's something that, you know, is a challenge for everyone. But, look, interestingly, I heard some anecdotal stories that people are using, doing spending more time learning how to use AI in their exams rather than actually learning their content. So it is something that's going to be a challenge for us.

CLINT STANAWAY: Sophie, Jane. Thanks so much for your time on Weekend Today, cheaters.