Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024

The majority voted against amendments introduced by NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi (NSW), which means they failed. The amendments would have introduced national minimum wage for mandatory practical placements.

According to Senator Faruqi, the amendments would have:

ensure[d] that all students are paid for the work that they do, no matter what degree they are doing, and require that payments be made at a national minimum wage. At the moment, the way it works out is $8 an hour, which is literally peanuts. These amendments would also commence earlier, on 1 January 2025. Students can't wait another eight months, until July next year, to start being paid for the work they do.

One of the other things our amendments do is enshrine the Commonwealth practical placements into legislation. That's what is needed. They ensure that all students who undertake mandatory practical placements as part of their studies are paid for that. I hope we can push for a move further on providing that every single student who does mandatory placements be paid for them at a minimum wage. I have heard from so many students, and recently from medical students, who are really struggling. They are the ones who do the maximum amount of hours for their placements, and they have been telling me that marginalised students especially, from marginalised communities, suffer the most. Many students have to travel as well to do their placements.