Extension of Australia’s prac payments a ‘huge relief’

Canberra’s expansion of its “prac payment” programme has been “warmly” welcomed, but postgraduate associations want the measure extended to “the students still left out”, while universities have renewed their pressure for an overhaul of tuition fees.

The measure, unveiled by prime minister Anthony Albanese as a curtain raiser to the Labor Party’s national conference in Adelaide, enhances one of the most practical reforms that emerged from the Australian Universities Accord. The programme current delivers A$338.60 (£177.42) a week to nursing, teaching, social work and midwifery students undertaking practical placements required as part of their courses.

From next July, eligibility will be extended to 10 allied health professions: audiology, clinical psychology, occupational therapy, paramedicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography, rehabilitation therapies and speech pathology.

“They’re the front line of our health system, and this will help them to stay at uni and finish their degrees,” education minister Jason Clare told Channel Nine. “Often they’ve got to give up their part-time job to do…practical training, or they’ve got to move away from home, and that can make life really tough.”

Universities Australia said placements came at a “real” cost. “Many students are forced to cut back or give up paid work while still covering rent, groceries, transport and other everyday expenses. No student should have to choose between completing their degree and paying their bills.”

Trista Kopeshke, a speech pathology student at James Cook University, said the payments would be a “huge relief” for students like her who had been forced to relocate for university, and faced “paying for two lots of rent at once. It also means that when we have to take time off work, we are still receiving an income.”

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (Capa) said master’s level allied health students undertook 901 hours of mandatory placement, on average, and most received no study-related income support even though 70 per cent reported food insecurity.

“For students in fields like clinical psychology and physiotherapy, who spend hundreds of hours on unpaid, full-time placement, this is real income and overdue recognition,” Capa president Jesse Gardner-Russell said.

But vice-president Richard Lee said medical and veterinary science students – who had “some of the longest and most intensive unpaid placements of anyone” – remained ineligible.

“Medical students are routinely advised by their own faculties to work no more than five hours a week during placement blocks. Veterinary science students face comparably relentless clinical demands. You cannot accept that students shouldn’t go hungry on placement and then leave out the…students doing the longest placements of all.”

The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated that extending the payments to medical and allied health students would cost A$290 million over four years, according to independent parliamentarians Helen Haines and David Pocock. Albanese said the allied health component would cost A$158 million by the end of the decade.

“We can’t do everything at once,” he told ABC Radio. “There aren’t shortages of people who want to do medical degrees. There are shortages of social workers. There’s shortages in areas like radiography and physiotherapy. At this stage, they’re the professions that we’re prioritising.”

The accord recommended payments for placements related to the nursing, care and teaching professions. George Williams, chair of the 2050 Alliance university grouping, said the government should “continue funding the implementation of [the] recommendations including…reform of Job-Ready Graduates, which shifted more of the cost of education onto students.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com