Government expands paid placement scheme for allied health professions

The federal government will expand paid mandatory placements to a further 10 allied health professions. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced last Thursday at Labor’s national conference that student paramedics and those studying physiotherapy and occupational therapy, clinical psychology, pharmacy and podiatry, speech pathology, audiology, radiography and rehab therapies will become eligible for the Commonwealth Prac Payment of around $338 a week from 1 June 2027. The Health Services Union (HSU), as well as federal MPs such as Indi Independent Helen Haines, welcomed the decision after having lobbied for years for an expansion of the program to address what Dr Haines termed "placement poverty" among Australia’s future health workforce. Allied health students are required to complete hundreds - and in some cases thousands - of hours of mandatory placement before graduating, often forcing them to give up the paid employment they rely on to cover rent, food, transport and other essentials. Students reported skipping meals, falling behind on bills and considering abandoning their degrees because they could not afford to complete their placements, despite Australia facing serious shortages across the allied health workforce. Dr Haines, who last month presented the prime minister with a petition with 47,000 signatures calling for expansion of the scheme, said students, universities, professional bodies, health services and parliamentarians from across the country had been united around a simple principle: no community should miss out on care because future health workers were priced out of their training. "At a time of urgent health workforce shortages, particularly in rural and regional Australia, we cannot afford to have financial pressures preventing students from completing health degrees," she said. "This is fantastic news for allied health students across Australia and will alleviate enormous pressure they face when trying to juggle study and their day-to-day bills." HSU national president Kate Marshall said the expansion will help more students complete their qualifications and enter the health, aged care and disability workforces. She said the HSU campaign is set to continue until all allied health students undertaking mandatory placements receive financial support. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) will also be continuing to campaign for medical students to be included in paid mandatory placements scheme. AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen said the government's continued exclusion of medical students from the scheme made no sense, and it must explain why students - who undertake about 2000 hours of unpaid clinical placements - aren't being supported, given the need for doctors across communities.

Government expands paid placement scheme for allied health professions

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