AUSA welcomes the Australian Government’s expansion of the Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP) to support students across ten allied health disciplines from 1 July 2027. This expansion brings needed cost-of-living relief to thousands of students across Adelaide University and Australia.
Despite this, we as a student community remain deeply disappointed that a number of placement-heavy programs offered at Adelaide University were missed in this expansion. It remains the view of AUSA that all placements should be paid, and we will continue to advocate for this. Students in these programs undertake extensive periods of mandatory, full-time, unpaid placements, in some cases exceeding 4,000 hours throughout the degree, with limited ability to undertake regular paid employment alongside the placement.
These degrees, which have been missed nationally, are:
-Medical Students
-Dentistry
-Optometry
-Veterinary Science
Further still, there are problems with the paid placement system itself. Even when the CPP applies, the payment is unsatisfactory. Currently, the CPP is $338.60 per week, which translates to under $9 an hour, which is about a third of the $26.44 national minimum wage. While if you were an international student, you would be completely unable to attain CPP, regardless of financial need, leaving a significant part of the student body with no support at all.
AUSA endorses the sustained work of the Adelaide Medical Students' Association, and other advocacy groups who have worked towards getting here and are continuing to drive this issue forward. After all, no student should be forced to choose between their education and keeping a roof over their head.
AUSA calls on the Australian Government to:
1. Commit to a public timeline to extend CPP to any mandatory placement-heavy programs not currently covered by the scheme, to all students;
2. Raise the wage to at least minimum wage;
3. Expand the eligibility to International Students.
AUSA also calls on Adelaide University to:
1. Join in advocating for their students regarding paid placement
2. Adopt the same position as AUSA and the Adelaide Medical Students' Association
3. Expand & increase financial support grants to include all students facing a placement in their degree.
On Behalf of the AUSA Board,
Yeshaiah Varona | Chair of AUSA
