Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and spokesperson for Education, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, and Students Against Placement Poverty (SAPP), have responded to the Albanese Government's decision to establish a new Commonwealth payment for students studying nursing, teaching and social work.
Quotes attributed to Senator Mehreen Faruqi:
"Today's announcement shows the pressure is moving Labor in the right direction, but reflects a lack of understanding of the severity of placement poverty and its impact on students. This is yet another Labor solution that won't touch the sides of the crisis.
"Every student should be paid for every hour of work they are required to do. The payment should be universal and not limited by degrees.
"Students should be paid at least minimum wage for their work on placement, not a lesser supplementary amount.
"Who knows how many students will be screwed over by means testing. The devil is in the detail.
"During this cost-of-living crisis, unpaid placements are forcing students to choose between putting fuel in the car to get to their placement or putting food on the table every day. Labor's policy won't even try to change that until 1 July 2025.
"It's a slap in the face from the Government to ignore the many students experiencing placement poverty right now. What are they supposed to do until 1 July 2025? It's simply callous to make them wait over a year.
"Labor lacks the ambition for the transformation we need with their lacklustre announcements on two of the biggest challenges students face - student debt and placement poverty.
"Education is a human right and the Greens will continue to advocate for free and universal education, wiping student debt and paid placements for all."
As stated by James Sherriff, spokesperson for Students Against Placement Poverty (SAPP):
"Without a living wage now, students remain in placement poverty despite winning an important concession from the government.
"Students Against Placement Poverty notes that this change will do very little to alleviate placement poverty in the vast majority of cases, and urges that more drastic change is needed immediately."
