00:00As Brie Harris prepares for her day at work, the fact she won't be paid weighs heavily on her mind.
00:08In the lead-up to placement, I was working three jobs.
00:11I've been working night shift at Woolworths just to supplement my income.
00:17The fourth-year physiotherapy student has to complete 25 weeks of unpaid placement across one year,
00:24all while covering the costs of a mortgage, bills and childcare for her five-year-old.
00:29You try and save as much as you can and try to make it go as far as it can,
00:34but there's a point where the money dries up.
00:39Occupational therapy student Arabella Healey has 1,000 hours of unpaid placements to do.
00:45Each week I'm paying rent. I'm also doing placement other side of Canberra, so it's also petrol as well.
00:53Even with Centrelink and university support, she's had to drop to part-time placement to stay afloat and out of placement poverty.
01:00It's really disheartening to have to kind of constantly worry while on placement,
01:06while going through what is a very stressful time and stuff already,
01:10to have to have financials in the back of my mind constantly.
01:16With HECS debts also awaiting both women at the end of their degrees, they agree more financial support would help.
01:23Earlier this year, the federal government announced it would introduce means-tested prac payments of around $320 a week
01:30for nursing, teaching and social work students.
01:33But there are calls for that to be expanded as an ageing population
01:37and an increase in the prevalence of chronic health conditions pushes up demand for allied health professionals,
01:44especially in OT, physio and osteotherapy, and in rural areas.
01:49Realities of placement poverty don't discriminate on the basis of what course you're studying.
01:54I want to see just as many people from lower socioeconomic areas graduating physiotherapy and occupational therapy
02:00as we do nursing and social work.
02:03But Education Minister Jason Clare won't be swayed,
02:06in a statement saying the government had been told to focus on nursing, teaching and social work,
02:11and that's what it was doing.
02:14For more UN videos visit www.un.org
Comments