Calling on the Australian Government to include medical students in the Commonwealth Prac Payment.
AIDA’s medical student members are disappointed that Australian Government have again excluded them from the Commonwealth Prac Payment. The exclusion is inequitable, unsupported by the reality of medical training and inconsistent with the Government’s own commitments to strengthen Medicare, grow the medical workforce and expand access to medical education for First Nations students.
Clinical placement is not optional work experience. It is an intensive, compulsory and accredited part of becoming a doctor. Medical students must complete substantial periods in hospitals, general practice, community-controlled and community health services, and rural, remote, metropolitan and Indigenous health settings. The Australian Medical Council describes genuine clinical interaction across diverse settings as essential to developing safe and effective graduates.
A policy that increases medical school places while leaving students without adequate means to complete mandatory clinical training addresses entry but neglects retention and graduation. Opportunity at the front door is not equity if students are priced out before qualification.
“This exclusion is difficult to justify, when medical students undertake the longest mandatory clinical commitments” said Dr Peter Malouf, AIDA CEO.
Dr Malouf said “Medical students on clinical placements are restricted from paid employment, while generating transport, parking, equipment, food and, for away-from-home placements, duplicate accommodation costs.”
Across Australia, significant effort has been invested in increasing the number of First Nations students entering medical school. However, creating pathways into medicine is only the beginning.
We must also ensure First Nations students are supported throughout their medical degree to successfully complete their training.
“For many First Nations students, this means balancing the demands of medical school with responsibilities to family, community and Country, while also navigating the financial burden of mandatory clinical placements.” Said Kirsty Darnell, Boorooberongal woman of the Darug Nation, medical student and AIDA NSW/ACT Regional Lead, AMSA First Nations Advocacy Co-Chair
Mrs Darnell said that reduced opportunities for paid employment, combined with the costs of travel, accommodation, uniforms, equipment, food and everyday living expenses, create barriers that place students at risk of financial hardship and threaten successful completion of their medical degree.
Supporting First Nations medical students to not only enter medicine, but to remain, graduate and become the next generation of doctors, is essential to strengthening a culturally safe, representative medical workforce and improving health outcomes for First Nations communities.
The removal of caps on Commonwealth-supported medical places for First Nations students is a welcome structural reform. It will, however, fall short if governments fund entry without funding completion.
The Government has accepted that placement poverty is a workforce and participation problem. It has expanded the payment where national skills shortages and growing service demand make completion essential. Those same principles apply to medicine. Australia cannot credibly pursue more doctors, more GPs, stronger rural and remote services and a medical workforce that reflects the community while maintaining a financial barrier at the point students undertake compulsory clinical training.
The choice is straightforward: fund the whole pathway, or accept that students without family wealth will continue to carry a disproportionate burden. For First Nations students, that would reproduce the structural inequity the Government has committed to remove.