MOTIONS

Ms ROBERTS (Pearce) (16:52): The incorporated speech read as follows— I would like to commend the Albanese Labor government for investing a further $158.4 million to expand the Commonwealth prac payment to students training in 10 additional frontline health professions. From 1 July 2027, this expansion will build on paid prac already available to eligible teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students, with around 95,000 students expected to receive support each year.

In Pearce, practical placements are a significant part of health degrees, making up more than a year of study in some courses. For our students at universities across Perth and beyond, those placements are not optional extras—they are the gateway to registration as physiotherapists, clinical psychologists, paramedics, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, radiographers, pharmacists, rehabilitation therapists, audiologists and podiatrists.

But placement poverty is real. Students in Pearce have told me that, when prac starts, they often have to cut back their hours at work or give up their paid job altogether. Some have had to sleep in their car so they could afford to do their prac.

The grocery bill doesn't stop. Neither do the costs of petrol and parking. The rent doesn't stop, and sometimes it has to be paid in two places—at home and where you do your placement.

That financial pressure can discourage students from undertaking placements in regional and remote Australia, where health workforce shortages are often most acute. For families in the northern suburbs, the eastern suburbs and the coastal communities of Pearce, that means fewer local options for allied health care, longer wait times and more pressure on our GPs and hospitals.

Eligible students currently receive $338.60 a week, benchmarked to the single Austudy rate and indexed annually, providing real cost-of-living relief while they undertake mandatory placements. From 1 July 2027, that same support will be available to students in 10 more key frontline health professions: clinical psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, paramedicine, radiography, pharmacy, rehabilitation therapies, audiology and podiatry.

These are the people who look after us when we're sick, who help us recover from injury, who support Australians living with disability and who rush to our aid in an emergency. We need more of them in Pearce, in Western Australia and across the country. For a radiography student from Mindarie or a paramedicine student from Wanneroo, this payment can mean the difference between completing their qualification or not.

It means they can spend less time worrying about paying the bills and more time focused on their training. It makes it easier for students to take up placements in the bush, where the costs of travel, accommodation and relocation can be even greater. Expanding the Commonwealth prac payment will help more students complete their qualifications, growing the health workforce Australians rely on and strengthening Medicare.

A stronger Medicare needs a strong health workforce. We need more physios, psychologists, pharmacists, paramedics, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, radiographers, audiologists, podiatrists and rehabilitation therapists, especially in communities like ours. This is the type of policy only a Labor government would deliver—cost-of-living help that also strengthens Medicare.

Labor created paid prac. At the last election, the Liberals wanted to get rid of it. They still do.

We created it and we're expanding it. They want to get rid of it. Paid prac is just one of the ways we are helping with the cost of living: cutting student debt by 20 per cent, free TAFE, tax cuts for every taxpayer, cheaper child care, expanding paid parental leave and backing wage rises.

We're helping with the cost of living, making it easier for Australians to get the skills and qualifications they need and building the health workforce Australia needs. To the students of Pearce studying to be our next generation of allied health professionals: the Albanese Labor government sees you, we hear you, and we are backing you. Your placements are not a barrier to be endured; they are the foundation of a career that will serve our community for decades.

And, from 1 July 2027, you will have more support to get across the line. I commend the motion.