Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my friend the terrific member for Tangney for his question. Four of the most important jobs in this country—teachers, nurses, midwives and social workers, people who work in our domestic violence refuges—will all get a tax cut next week. A social worker on 75 grand will get a tax cut of more than $1,500, a teacher on 80 grand will get a tax cut of $1,679, a nurse on 90 grand will get a tax cut of $1,929 and a midwife on $95,000 will get a tax cut of more than $2,000. That's how you deliver real cost-of-living relief—not by jacking up power prices with expensive nuclear reactors. And if you're a student at university and you're studying teaching, or nursing, or midwifery or social work, then there's something else coming to help you with the cost of living, and that is paid prac—financial support while you do your practical training. This will be the first time that the Commonwealth government has ever provided this financial support for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students.

A lot of students tell me that when they do their prac they've got to give up their part-time job and that they've either got to move away from home or do fewer hours. Sometimes that can mean they delay doing their degree or don't finish it at all.

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