The ANMF has called for the immediate and universal rollout of the Commonwealth’s ‘Prac Payment’, which would provide nursing and midwifery students with $319.50 per week during mandatory clinical placements, in giving evidence at a Senate inquiry this week examining the landmark legislation.

Introduced to address rising ‘placement poverty’ among students studying to become nurses, teachers, and social workers, the Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measurers) Bill 2024 is being scrutinised by the Education and Employment Legislation Committee.

Giving evidence at Tuesday’s hearing, ANMF Senior Professional Officer Julianne Bryce highlighted the significant challenges faced by student nurses and midwives, who are typically required to complete a minimum of 800 hours of clinical placements. These include being unable to continue their regular paid jobs during Profession Experience Placement (PEP) and struggling with additional costs such as travel, accommodation, uniforms and parking, and the expenses of everyday living like food and childcare.

ANMF student members report that PEP often lacks flexibility, leaving them with little control over the experience, which can last for months and be located hours away from their homes. This leads to numerous financial challenges and forces some students to drop out or defer their studies, delaying them from entering the workforce, Ms Bryce told the committee.

“The student experience, satisfaction and sense of belonging during PEP are key determinants of career decisions after registration and influence early career practitioners’ decisions to remain in, or leave, the professions,” Ms Bryce said.

“This highlights the importance of PEP and the impact it can have on the sustainability of our future nursing and midwifery workforces.”

Ms Bryce said the ANMF welcomed the government’s initiative to make higher education more accessible and affordable for nursing and midwifery students. Ensuring they are supported to complete their education will have flow-on effects by increasing retention and reducing attrition of early career nurses and midwives.

“Attracting and retaining early career nurses will add much needed support to mid and late career nurses and midwives,” Ms Bryce said.

“This, in turn, will help prevent overwork by this group, burnout, and attrition, which strips workforces of those with the experience, knowledge, and ability to mentor and protect early career graduates. Such outcomes will help address current and predicted nurse and midwife shortages.”

If passed, the ‘Prac Payment’ scheme will be means-tested and available from 1 July 2025, in addition to any income support a student may also receive.

The ANMF is advocating for a universal payment scheme to ensure all nursing and midwifery students are eligible. Alongside other unions that gave evidence at Tuesday’s hearing, the ANMF urged that the ‘Prac Payment’ be rolled out as soon as possible to provide much-needed support to struggling students.

“We certainly have requirements [placements] that extend well beyond the end of the calendar year. Students, particularly midwifery students, are doing placement and continue to meet those PEP requirements, including numbers of births and continuity of care experiences, so they are constant, and those placements continue. We’ve had students report that they sleep in their car so they can be available for the birth.”

While the ‘Prac Payment’ initiative has received widespread support from unions, education providers and health services, debate continues over who will make the payment to students, and how.

University representatives told the committee that while they have the capacity to make payments, routinely providing students with financial support such as stipends and scholarships, they remain concerned about placing unnecessary administrative burden on the sector due to the sheer number of payments that will need to be processed. They are also worried about the risks associated with not having the expertise to assess eligibility criteria, including tax considerations. The payment would be better off being delivered by a central Commonwealth agency, such as Services Australia, and being tax free, they suggested.

“The last thing we would want to see is students getting slugged with unexpected tax debts to the ATO because they’ve received a payment to go ahead and do a prep placement as part of their education,” Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy said.