Doorstop, Cairns
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
MATT SMITH, MEMBER FOR LEICHHARDT: I'm here at TAFE Queensland’s Cairns campus with Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister Rishworth. Today, we're here to celebrate the Albanese Government's paid prac, which has started on 1 July. What this means is that these nursing students who we've spoken to today, when doing their prac, are not going to have to dip so far in their own pockets just to live. If you're a mature-aged student, that makes a massive, massive difference. Your mortgages will stay set. You can look after the kids. Childcare is okay. You're going to know that there's that buffer between you and whatever's coming next, which is always important. Less stress, better marks in school. Of course, a lot of these students here today as well are taking advantage of Fee-Free TAFE. We've been here a number of times throughout the campaign and now as the member, and we keep hearing again and again the doors Fee-Free TAFE is opening up for people right around the regions. Marisa, who we spoke to earlier, is going to head out to the regions as an enrolled nurse. We know that there is a critical shortage of nurses in our rural and remote areas, and things like Fee-Free TAFE get people locally staying. We know when they learn here, they stay here, they work here, they raise their children, and it's a fantastic outcome for the entire community. I'd like to hand it over now to Minister Rishworth, who has been spearheading this wonderful …
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Well, it's been absolutely wonderful to talk with some nursing students here in Cairns. Of course, we spoke with some stage three nurses, and they are about to have only six months left until they go out and become enrolled nurses. Hearing how important Fee-Free TAFE was to give them the confidence to take up this upskilling or extra opportunity was really wonderful. But also, speaking to some nursing students in the stage one and hearing just how important the opportunity is to get a career in nursing, the passion that we heard from all the students is really on display, wanting to help others. But knowing that Fee-Free TAFE will help them get into the career that they really want to flourish in is really exciting. Of course, in the Cairns region, over 6,000 students have taken up the opportunity of Fee-Free TAFE since its inception, and the Diploma of Nursing has been incredibly popular. Of course, in addition though, we're announcing from 1 July that prac placements in the Diploma of Nursing will be paid if students are eligible. This is a really important development because whether it's Fee-Free TAFE or whether it is this paid prac, we are trying to break down the barriers that stop people pursuing a career in nursing and other important skills areas. So, this prac placement will be really important to support students on their journey while they take time off to get that hands-on experience that's so important. We know, at times, particularly if you're working already in a job, deciding to take that step into study and upskilling can be pretty daunting. But knowing that you'll get paid while you are actually on prac is really important, and another step to encouraging more people to get skills that we need right across this region, but also right across Australia. I’m going to hand to Melanie.
MELANIE CLARKE, FACULTY MANAGER FOR COMMUNITY AND HEALTH, TAFE QUEENSLAND: Hi. So, I'm Melanie, and we are so excited to hear of the announcement, and definitely are promoting it with all our students in regards to putting their application in to apply for the prac placement subsidy. We hear it from our students on many occasions how much of a struggle it is for them to attend their placement. So this adds another level of incentive and support to the students who are going to be out in our community looking out after us. So if we can do our best to help them work through their studies, work through their placement, and also, it is a pathway for many of our students who are doing a Diploma of Nursing. They've used it as a stepping stone to go and do their RN. So, we're really helping our region grow the workforce, and we have seen such a growth in our Diploma of Nursing. So, we're very excited and look forward to the support. It will definitely benefit our students that are starting this semester and on into the future. So thank you.
JOURNALIST: What are the eligibility requirements?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Eligibility requirements are to do paid work of 15 hours a week or be on income support, and of course, making sure that there is an income test as well. So, earning less than $1,500 to be able to actually get the prac payment.
JOURNALIST: And the payment for these pracs, is it going to be equivalent to what they're earning?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: It is equivalent to other study payments. It is there to support people though, particularly for those that may not be on income support. If they meet those eligibility criteria, they wouldn't normally get any payment but often have to take time off from work. So this will enable them to keep getting payments so that they can actually make sure that they are able to do the prac and keep pursuing their study.
JOURNALIST: And you mentioned the uptake in the Cairns region. Do you have any statistics on how many people this will benefit in the whole of Queensland, or regional Queensland?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: So that is the number of people in the Fee-Free TAFE. Of course, not all diplomas and certificate threes have these placement requirements. So what we're talking about is people in the Diploma of Nursing at TAFE but also those doing social work, nursing, midwifery and teaching across Queensland. So it will have a profound impact on those areas that we really have skill shortages, that really those people, when they're studying, we know they need that hands-on experience out in the community doing that work but haven't been paid up until now.
JOURNALIST: This could be a question for Matt or yourself – whoever, I suppose. Are you concerned – I understand the Queensland nurses strikes are a state government issue, but are you concerned, I guess, that this is being introduced at the same time that the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union is going to their stage two of their industrial action and talking about stopping non clinical care duties, such as answering the phone and that sort of thing? Are you concerned that these sort of things are happening at the same time?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Look, in terms of the positioning of pay increases for nurses, that's entirely a matter for the State Government. What I would say is this investment that the Commonwealth is making is a long-term investment for the future of our workforce in Australia. We have recognised as a Commonwealth that we need more skills in this country and we need more nurses, we need more teachers, we need more social workers, but we also need a range of other trades. And that is why we are delivering Fee-Free TAFE, and that is why we are delivering this paid prac placement. This is an investment for the future.
JOURNALIST: I know this has been put into TAFE, but you've got your other universities who do have these placements. Are you hoping that maybe this could spark some more placements to be paid?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: It will pay for placements in teaching and also social work, as well as nursing at universities as well. That's been the start. We're here at TAFE because while there's been a lot of focus on the pay placements at universities, we want to make sure people know that those Diploma of Nursing students can be eligible as well and that they need to register on yourcareer.gov.au. And it's great to hear Melanie say that she'll be encouraging and supporting the students to make sure they check their eligibility and put in their application. We want to raise awareness that this isn’t just for those university placements, that it is available for those diploma of nursing students as well.