The Health Services Union (HSU) is renewing its call for the Federal Government to extend its proposed paid placements to allied health to overcome ‘placement poverty’ faced by students.
The call comes as the Senate Education Employment Legislation Committee scrutinises the University Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill.
Under the Bill, some social workers, nurses and teachers undertaking mandatory placement will be eligible for means-tested financial support.
However, all allied health professionals, except for social workers, are excluded from the measure announced in the 2024 Federal Budget in May.
From July 2025, the Commonwealth Prac Payment scheme will provide student teachers, nurses, midwives and social workers with a $320 weekly payment during their mandatory practical placements. The cost-of-living measure will be means-tested to target students who need it the most and will cover about 68,000 higher education and 5,000 VET students a year.
The HSU’s submission to the committee highlights that most allied health students also endure severe placement hardship with some courses requiring up to 2,300 hours of compulsory practicum.
It said overlooking placement poverty in allied health only prolonged the suffering those students face. Flow-on effects were gendered, it added, as this allied health workforce was predominantly s women and in the case of speech pathologists, 98% of the profession.
HSU national secretary Mr Lloyd Williams said: “While we welcome the Federal Government extending financial support to students enduring hardship on placement, we can’t fathom why allied health has been left behind.
“The Universities Accord said that there should be paid placements in the care sector. Occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech pathologists and psychologists are some of the largest tertiary-qualified professions within it. Why exclude them?
“Workforce shortages across allied health are disrupting hospitals and outcomes for Australians using the NDIS and aged care systems. Barriers to study only make these worse.”
After the Budget, Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) called for the measure to be expanded to cover allied health students including audiology and speech pathology students during their clinical and professional placements.
AHPA CEO Ms Bronwyn Morris-Donovan welcomed the announcement but said “placement poverty” was real for many students of allied health disciplines where mandatory placements were just as extensive, if not more.
She said the Commonwealth Government had acknowledged the shortfall of allied health professionals in Australia and was developing a National Allied Health Workforce Strategy to future-proof supply of allied health professionals.
Australasian College of Audiometry (AuCA) director Mr Chedy Kalach said post Budget, that audiometry students had missed out again.
“It’s great to hear the apprenticeship hiring incentives remain for another year but as audiometry is not currently a traineeship, studying audiometry will not attract any financial subsidies,” he told Hearing Practitioner Australia.
HSU members have told their stories of hardship. HSU member, radiation therapist Courtney said: “The workload of a radiation therapy undergraduate student is exhausting. We are required to manage a full-time academic workload while also completing 42 weeks of unpaid placement at 35 hours per week. Placement poverty must be addressed.”
Another HSU member, clinical psychologist Matteo added: “Clinical psychologists in training are studying for a minimum six years before they are eligible to be paid as a psychologist. My HELP debt peaked at $91,740 due to indexation, because I was unable to work with clinical endorsement until eight years of study.
“After working for five years, my HELP debt is still $87,260. The debt is crippling, and a large portion of salary goes towards paying off just indexation rises.”
Pharmacy student and HSU member Samuel said: “Earlier this year I was assigned a four-week placement at a hospital in Sydney, four hours away. Unfortunately, I was told that accommodation was only available for a rural placement. I had to stay at a hostel which cost me just shy of $2,000.
“The interest rates increased while my wife was on maternity leave and our mortgage went up to 55% of our combined income. I exhausted all our savings and four months later, we have not been able to replace any savings or catch up on our bills. The only reprieve is I will soon graduate.”
