Ms CHARISHMA KALIYANDA (Liverpool) (21:47): Gough Whitlam was a champion of south‑west Sydney, and his impact on my community was transformational. Sadly, however, the challenges he identified and worked to change are not unique to his time and echo through the decades. Many across our great country would reflect on the Whitlam Government changing the game when it came to access to education, especially university education. His policies enabled many to be the first in their families to attend university and ensured that talent and merit, rather than means, were the keys to educational attainment. Indeed, he said:
Poverty is a national waste as well as individual waste. We are all diminished when any of us are denied proper education. The nation is the poorer—a poorer economy, a poorer civilisation, because of this human and national waste.
Today, however, universities are still grappling with the question of how to reduce barriers to entry and ensure that students from diverse backgrounds finish university. In fact, this is a major plank of the Australian Government's bid to overhaul the university sector. So far theAustralian Universities Accord: Interim Report has identified that compulsory unpaid work placements is a significant barrier. Many professional courses such as nursing, teaching, social work, psychology and the allied health professions have significant work placement requirements. Students must often take time out of paid work for those placements, which can take place over multi-week blocks away from home.
Placement poverty occurs when the costs of undertaking such placements, which are compulsory to graduate, push financially marginalised students into poverty and sometimes out of their studies. It occurs across several degrees, including education and social work, but there are some specific features of health placements that make health students, particularly nurses and midwives, vulnerable. The hours of unpaid placements that they must undertake are extensive—a minimum of 800 hours for nurses and 1,600 hours for midwives—across the course of their degree. Nursing placements may also reflect a nurse's roster and include night shifts and weekends and, for many students, can be more than 100 kilometres from their homes. They are hugely important for student learning, but the time commitment means that students must often give up paid work. There can also be extra travel, accommodation and clothing costs.
I can personally attest to the difficult position that often puts people in. As a student occupational therapist, I made the decision to commence my study part-time so that I could continue to work for as long as possible and build up my savings. Then in my final year I had to quit my job so that I could undertake four months of full‑time unpaid placement. I was lucky; I had the support of family to save on costs and had some savings to rely upon. Unfortunately, many in my community—indeed, many of the talented students that we want to encourage to pursue further education and work in health, education and other industries that are currently facing enormous pressure due to staff shortages—do not benefit from that.
Placement poverty compounds existing challenges that our hospitals face across the country. Forcing health students into poverty to complete their degrees is not productive public policy. It both harms individuals and undermines the future health workforce. Liverpool has one of the largest hospitals in the Southern Hemisphere. We are proudly developing a world-class health and innovation precinct. However, less than one in four of us have tertiary qualifications. Conversely, many in my community, including health workers, speak to me about the lack of staff and long wait times that result. They speak about staff turnover as well as staff who travel from other regions and areas who find positions closer to home. The only solution is to build a local talent pipeline where students can access university placements, training and job opportunities close to where they have family and support networks—where they have skin in the game.
However, there is hope. Students Against Placement Poverty is a grassroots organisation started in New South Wales with the aim of abolishing unpaid placements. Professional peak bodies like the Australian Association of Social Workers, unions like the Australian Services Union and universities have all been vocal on the issue. Several weeks ago the Minns Government announced that New South Wales police recruits would be paid while they trained at the Goulburn Police Academy. That removes a huge barrier for those who have thought about joining the force but could not due to financial circumstances. However, ending placement poverty can only happen when multiple stakeholders come together. It needs our industrial relations system, institutions, universities, placement providers and governments to address the social and economic progress limiting challenge. I am once again reminded of the words of the great Gough Whitlam:
We are all diminished when any of us are denied proper education, housing, health care, or equal opportunity to live up to our potential.
