It was this Labor government that, in 2024, introduced the Commonwealth paid prac payment for students in teaching, nursing, social work and midwifery courses. In doing so, the federal government provided financial support to students completing their mandatory practical training—support that hadn't existed previously and had proven, for generations of students, to be a challenge for so many Australians. Both the 2023 employment white paper and the universities accord highlighted the fact that unpaid practical training put significant financial pressures on students that they don't need while they are completing such an important part of their qualifications.

As a result, the Commonwealth paid prac payment is a much-needed, first-of-its-kind initiative to address a very real issue of placement poverty, and many of the stories I've heard from students both young and old in my electorate of Banks demonstrate why this program is so valuable and so necessary. I've heard about students needing to take extended leave without pay from their existing part-time employment, and about some even having to quit, and about students who couldn't find or afford a place to stay during their placement and had to sleep in their cars. Students in these qualifications now and from the past know that this program is making a real difference. It is allowing local students to train for some of the most in-demand jobs in our communities without having to face the pressure of paying the bills and the rent alone.

Since the program commenced about 15 months ago, more than 6,000 students in nursing alone have received support totalling more than $10 million. Of course, those nursing students studying at TAFE have benefited from Labor's fee-free TAFE as well. Put simply, the Commonwealth paid prac payment is making the lives of thousands of Australians that have committed to making the lives of communities better, and that is why this Labor government is expanding it.

From 1 July next year, eligible students in training for 10 more key frontline allied health professions will be able to access paid prac, including paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists, psychologists, radiographers and more. Following this announcement in July, I visited Enunciate Allied Health Services in Mortdale, alongside the Minister for Health. The minister and I were able to meet with the founder of Enunciate, Chauntell and her team, including speech pathologists and occupational therapists. All of them spoke about how valuable their placement experience was to their professional development, but they also spoke about the challenges they face. Some had to take their placement outside of Sydney and move at very short notice. Some had to rely on their parents to make it financially viable. It shouldn't have to be this hard to get qualified for jobs we desperately need more qualified people to do.

Importantly, both speech pathology and occupational therapy are included in the 10 new courses eligible for the paid prac payment. This expansion of paid prac isn't just about making education more attainable; it is also about making our healthcare workforce stronger in the way only Labor governments are committed to do, with $158 million of investment ensuring that local students and local talent can fill the jobs we need most in our healthcare system.

The paid prac program invests in health care, education, skills and our students all at once, which is why it is no surprise that, at the last election, the Liberals and the Nationals wanted to cut it. They may have buried it deep in the fine print of their pre-election costings, but we know that, when it comes to being stewards for our education and healthcare systems, only Labor can be trusted.

This government is committed to making the lives of Australians easier. This government is committed to supporting students, and we are committed to strengthening our healthcare workforce for our communities for the future.

I rise to support the expansion of the Commonwealth prac payment. I do so because this is an issue I've spoken about in the House before, an issue that was first brought home to me, not in Canberra, but by students at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie. The motion notes the government's additional $158.4 million investment to extend Commonwealth prac payments to 10 additional frontline health professionals from 1 July next year. That is a welcome step because, for many students, mandatory placement isn't just a part of getting a degree, it can be the point at which they wonder whether they can afford to finish it.

Several years ago I attended O-week at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie and spent time talking with students. The No. 1 issue again and again they raised was the same problem: mandatory professional placements. Students told me about having to give up paid work for weeks at a time, about travelling long distances for placements, about paying for temporary accommodation while still paying rent at home, about watching the bills continue to arrive while their income disappeared. They described an impossible choice between earning a living and completing the practical training they needed to graduate. Those conversations stayed with me. They helped shape what became Nationals policy—extending Commonwealth prac payments to allied health and veterinary students. So I welcome the government moving further in that direction.

From 1 July 2027, the payment will be extended to students in 10 additional disciplines, including clinical psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, paramedicine, radiography, pharmacy, rehabilitation therapies, audiology and podiatry. That matters enormously in regional Australia because the financial burden of placement can be particularly acute, with regional students travelling hundreds of kilometres, often having to find temporary accommodation and giving up paid employment at the same time. When a student cannot afford to complete a placement, that is not only a loss for that student but a loss for communities desperately trying to find those allied health professions and other health professionals. That is why Commonwealth payments are not simply student assistance; they are our regional workforce policy.

While I welcome the expansion, we should also be clear the job is still not finished. There are allied health students undertaking substantial mandatory professional placements who remain outside the scheme. Nuclear medicine students are one example. The government has chosen 10 disciplines for this expansion, but nuclear medicine is not among them. That exposes a broader problem with drawing an arbitrary line through the allied health workforce. If we accept the principle that a student should not be financially punished because their professional qualification requires them to undertake weeks or months of mandatory unpaid placement, then that principle should be applied consistently. A nuclear medicine student loses their income while on placement, just as a radiography student does. They can face the same petrol costs, the same accommodation bill, the same rent waiting for them at home and the same pressure to choose between keeping a job and completing their degree. The financial hardship does not change because Canberra has placed one profession on a list and left another one off.

If the government is going to support students who are required to undertake mandatory professional placements, it needs to make the support comprehensive. That means examining all allied health professionals still excluded, and, from a National Party perspective, including veterinary students who also undertake extensive placements and who are desperately needed across regional Australia. It also means looking again at the eligibility rules. I've previously spoken in the House about Emily Boxhall, from Wauchope, who was unable to access Centrelink and worked to support herself through university but fell below the work threshold required to qualify for the prac payment. She was doing everything we ask of a young Australian—studying, working and trying to support herself—yet she was falling between the cracks.

While I welcome this expansion and I acknowledge its progress, good policy should follow the principle through to its logical conclusion. If mandatory placement is essential to qualifying for a profession Australia needs, students should not be driven into financial hardship simply to complete it. Let's include the professions still missing, let's make the eligibility rules fair and let's build a Commonwealth prac payment that is comprehensive enough to ensure that a student's choice of profession or their postcode does not determine whether they can afford to finish a degree. I look forward to attending O-Week again next year, talking to students and making sure they have what they need to get their qualifications.

I rise in support of this motion put forward by the phenomenal member for Holt. The Commonwealth prac payment is exactly the kind of practical reform that makes a real change to students, families and our future workforce.

For too long, students studying in some of the most important professions in our country have been required to complete long periods of mandatory placement while also trying to keep a roof over their head, put food on the table and pay the everyday costs of getting to and from work. For many students, placement has meant cutting back on shifts from their paid job or giving up that other income entirely. That is why Labor introduced paid prac for eligible nursing, midwifery, social work and teaching students—to make sure that completing practical training required for a qualification does not become an impossible financial burden.

This issue is very real in my community. Around 20 per cent of people in the electorate of Petrie have a bachelor's degree or higher. Many of those people went to university at a time when there was no Commonwealth payment to support them through mandatory placements. They studied, they worked, they completed their prac and they somehow found a way to cover their rent, groceries and bills at the same time. For the next generation in Petrie, that experience can be different. Future nurses in North Lakes, teachers in Bracken Ridge, midwives in Redcliffe and social workers right across our community can now have financial support while they undertake the practical work they need to complete their degree. They'll still have to work hard and they'll still have to meet the same professional standards, but they'll not be expected to shoulder quite the same financial burden simply because part of their qualification requires them to be out in the workforce learning their profession.

This government is now expanding the support even further. From 1 July 2027, eligible students in another 10 frontline health professions will also be able to access paid prac. That includes students studying clinical psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, paramedicine, radiography, pharmacy, rehabilitation therapies, audiology and podiatry. These are the professionals people rely on at some of the most important moments of their lives: when they're sick, when they're recovering from an injury, when they're living with a disability or when they need urgent care.

The practical component of these degrees is not small. In some courses, students can spend more than a year of their degree undertaking practical training. During these periods, many have less opportunity to earn an income, and some have additional costs because they need to travel or temporarily relocate for the placement. And the rents keep coming. Petrol still needs to go in the car. Parking still needs to be paid for. Sometimes students are effectively covering the cost of living in two different places.

That is particularly important when we talk about regional and remote communities. We know those communities often face some of the greatest shortages of health professionals, but sending students hundreds of kilometres away for placement can bring extra travel, accommodation and relocation costs. If we want more students to experience regional practice and more graduates to consider working outside of the major cities, we need to remove some of those financial barriers.

I just want to touch on a personal matter. I think paid prac is such an important thing for our community. My mum worked multiple jobs whilst also studying nursing first at TAFE and then at university. She was taking on more jobs so she could pay to raise her four children, and then she was doing unpaid work through mandatory placements. That meant mum wasn't at home a lot. Paid prac is not only adding benefit in the way I previously mentioned; it's also enabling parents to spend more time with their kids. And I think everyone in this parliament would agree that it's a good thing that parents spend more time with their kids, giving them guidance and support and being there for the incredible milestones of their lives.

Paid prac makes a big difference to people. It's $338.60 a week, benchmarked at the single Austudy rate and indexed annually. Whilst that payment might not be able to cover every expense, it's going to make a major and meaningful difference to their lives, whether that's through paying for the groceries for the week, paying for the fuel to get to placement or helping with rent. It's really important that this paid prac has been expanded to help meet some of those basic needs of our students and the future workforce.

This is not only education policy; it is workforce policy, and it is Medicare policy. A stronger Medicare system needs the people to deliver it. We need more nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, physiotherapists, paramedics, occupational therapists and other allied health professionals, and supporting our students through their placements helps them to complete their qualification and to move into these incredibly important professions.

I think it's really important, in light of the circumstances we've seen in the last month or so at home—we've had three suicides, unfortunately, tragically—that we really should put as much attention into getting psychologists out into regional areas as we possibly can. It's an absolute scourge. I just thought with the opportunity to bring that up to the parliament, I should.

Sitting suspended from 13:23 to 16:00