Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not support these amendments. They go beyond the scope of the placements and they are beyond education and training. The intention of these payments is to provide cost-of-living support to students undertaking workplace based training rather than being paid for work. Students in receipt of a payment must be undertaking placements that are lawfully unpaid because of the definition of 'vocational placement' under the Fair Work Act 2009.

This requires that the person is not entitled to receive any remuneration for their work.

The proposed amendments also seek to enshrine guidelines in legislation. It is standard practice for programs of this nature to have their details outlined in guidelines. It helps with implementation. There have been a number of recent examples of this.

Regarding implementation from 1 January 2025, this is a new program. Providers need time to put in place arrangements to ensure payments are able to be made to students. These include new systems, communications, marketing and reporting arrangements. The government has been consulting with the sector to ensure the program can be implemented and administered simply while remaining targeted to those students who need it most.

Eligibility for Commonwealth prac payments will be targeted to students on low-income support and students who typically need to work to support themselves while studying. These students typically face the greatest financial pressure during placements. Eligibility criteria will be finalised in consultation with stakeholders following the passage of the legislation and well before the commencement date of 1 July 2025.

The guidelines are disallowable instruments. They can be considered by members of parliament once tabled, and that is standard practice.