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Student groups have described a Commonwealth payment aimed at combating "placement poverty" as "a slap in the face" that's too little, too late, and voiced concerns a means test will restrict access.
It was announced on Monday that a $319.50 a week means-tested payment would become available to teaching, nursing and social work students doing unpaid work placements from July 2025.
Prior to graduation, social work students must do 26 weeks of unpaid placements, nursing students 20 weeks and teaching students 16 weeks.
Earlier this year, students in those fields told the ABC they'd been paying universities "for the privilege of being exploited" and have had to choose between medical appointments and food just to meet course requirements.
Siena Hopper, a representative of advocacy group Students Against Placement Poverty, said the upcoming payment didn't go nearly far enough.
"Students doing teaching, social work and nursing are getting paid 35 per cent below the poverty line to do essential work. There's no other industry where you do not learn on the job. There's no reason that people should be getting paid $8 an hour for essential training," she said.
"It's pretty much a slap in the face."
Ms Hopper said her organisation had already been inundated with messages from students from all sectors since the government's announcement.
"People just feel disrespected ... not to mention the dozens of other sectors that aren't receiving any funding at all," she said.
"At the moment, it also doesn't mention anything about international students being included, and it's also means tested, which is horrible.
"We shouldn't have to prove that we are poor enough just to get scraps that won't even cover most people's rent."
The National Union of Students said while the measure would provide some relief to those who were struggling, it was not a meaningful long-term solution.
"The reality is that placement poverty won't end until all students undertaking mandatory placements are paid at least the minimum wage and the Fair Work Act is amended to make unpaid placements illegal," president Ngaire Bogemann said in a statement.
'Completely disheartened'
Kate Domenici is a social work student who has already delayed her studies by a year to save up for the 1,000 placement hours — that's 26 weeks full-time — required to graduate.
She's about halfway through her mandatory placement and needs assistance from her partner and family to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
"You feel exhausted thinking about it every single day. You think, 'Oh, I have to wait to get paid on Wednesday to go get food,' for that week and then maybe I can only afford to eat one meal a day," Ms Domenici said.
She was excited when she first learned about the new payment, but it turned to despair when she realised it wouldn't start until July 2025 — after she's graduated.
She said she briefly considered deferring again to access the payment, but quickly ruled it out as too disruptive to her dream of working as a social worker.
"When I ... saw that it'll be ready next year through a means test, I just felt completely disheartened," she said.
"I'm happy that students are getting it next year, but we have to think about the students this year, because we are living through it."
Medical students are required to do 2,000 placement hours and were very disappointed to miss out on the scheme.
"It's vital nurses, teachers and social work students get support, but it's equally important for the government to consider the way medical degree requirements almost uniquely foster placement poverty," said Allen Xiao, president of the Australian Medical Student's Association.
Mr Xiao said universities demanded placements be carried out full-time, leaving students with very limited capacity to support themselves.
At times students may even need to pay double rent if they had to travel long distances for placements, particularly if they were studying at a university in the regions.
Mr Xiao said the lack of support was hitting medical students from under-served communities.
"A lot of the students affected by a lack of support, don't have a lot of resources or familial support on placement and they are the doctors we need the most. They return to the country or low socio-economic communities to work," he said.
"Without these students, the diversity [in medicine] immediately plummets and that's a very concerning prospect."
What has the government said?
Unpaid placements were flagged as an area in need of serious reform by the Universities Accord, the largest review of the sector in decades.
Education Minister Jason Clare said teaching, nursing and social work students have "signed up to do some of the most important jobs in this country".
"So many students have told me that it's forced them to either drop out of their course or delay completing their degree. And this is practical help to help people to do the practical part of their degree," he said.
He defended the initial offering when asked about the exclusion of other students whose courses require a placement.
"What the Accord said is this is where we go first. My reckoning is having a look at the report, they said look at teaching, early education, nursing, midwifery, as well as social work. So that's where we're focused first," he said.
On Sunday, the government announced changes to student loan indexation that it said would wipe out $3 billion in HECS-HELP payments.
Mr Clare said the government would outline the "full first stage" of its response to the Universities Accord in next week's budget.
Greens education spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi said the announcements thus far wouldn't touch the sides of the cost-of-living crisis.
"Students should be paid at least minimum wage for their work on placement, not a lesser supplementary amount," Senator Faruqi said in a statement.
"Who knows how many students will be screwed over by means testing? The devil is in the detail."
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