Greens candidate Debbie Killian believes one of the major factors which is preventing younger first-home buyers from entering the market is the impact of student debts.

One of Killian’s main policies is to push for the federal government to wipe out all student debt for University and TAFE graduates and boost funding to public schools.

“Free education is a really big thing for me because there's $81 billion in student debt owed to our government now and the Labor Party is proposing to reduce it by 20%,” she said.

“I don't think that's enough. It's all got to be wiped.”

Killian said she felt a sense of guilt when she looks at the plight of school-leavers in this generation compared to her era when free tertiary education was a stepping stone to a better future.

“I happen to be in that age group that got free higher education. I started university in 1976 not long after Gough Whitlam got in and made it free,” she added.

“I was the first person in my family to go to university and it made a massive difference to my life and I got two degrees for nothing and I think I have been a very strong contributing member of the community as a result of those degrees.

“It certainly changed my life and made me a very much more privileged person than I would've been if I hadn't had those degrees so I'm acutely aware that the generation who had that free education took it away from our kids and our grandkids.

“It's always been a great source of concern and shame. I've had young people come up to me in the street when I'm campaigning and say my degree cost me $50,000 and I'm still trying to pay it off.

“How can I get a mortgage? I can't save for a mortgage. I'm not even gonna start a family until I've got rid of this debt.”

A lack of funding for education and a reliance on overseas students propping up the system is having adverse effects, Killian added.

“We have undermined the quality and the structure of our universities quite dramatically by underfunding them and forcing them into a situation of mass-produced overseas students,” she said.

“I have no objection to overseas students coming here and being part of our education system but when you've got a university system that is so dependent on churning them through, it undermines the whole basis of quality on which we are needing to establish our tertiary education system.”