Australia news live: Hecs debt relief to come into effect from mid-November; Melbourne’s new Town Hall metro station complete

Higher education debt relief will start flowing from next month, the Albanese government has confirmed.

In November and December, Australians with student debt will begin to see their balances reduced as the ATO implements the new 20% student debt cut.

Labor says the ATO will begin applying the cut from mid-November and anticipates that half of people with a student debt will see the 20% cut by the end of November.

Almost everyone else will see the cut applied to their balance by mid-December.

The cut will be backdated to balances on 1 June before indexation happened.

Graduates will be notified by text message or email when the cut happens and will be able to check their accounts to see their new lower balance.

The education minister, Jason Clare, says someone with the average debt of $27,600, this will see $5,520 wiped from their outstanding loans.

We promised we would cut your student debt by 20% and we are delivering.

This is a big deal for 3 million Australians.

This cut is already locked in to people’s balances at 1 June but soon they will be able to see it and feel it.

And welcome to another Sunday morning Guardian live blog.

The Albanese government has set a date for when it will slash Hecs debts for 3 million Australians. From mid-November the Australian Tax Office will begin processing the cuts that lower student debt by a fifth with half of those eligible to receive confirmation by the end of November, and the rest by mid-December.

Two women found by hikers in an alpine hut near Falls Creek froze to death when the region experienced blizzard-like conditions earlier in the week, police have confirmed. Police are working to identify the women in their 20s and 30s after retrieving their bodies from Mount Bogong on Saturday morning.

I’m Royce Kurmelovs and I’ll be taking the blog through the day.

With that, let’s get started …