The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) has expressed deep frustration at the Federal Government’s decision to expand the Commonwealth Prac Payment to ten additional health professions while once again excluding veterinary students — a decision made barely a month after Australia’s veterinarians were called to the frontline of the nation’s first mainland detection of H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI).
The Prime Minister today announced that the Commonwealth Prac Payment Scheme, which provides means-tested cost-of-living support to eligible students during unpaid clinical placements, would be extended to students of clinical psychology, physiotherapy, pharmacy, paramedicine and six other professions. Veterinary students, who must complete 52 weeks of unpaid practical placement over the course of their degree, which is among the longest placement requirements of any profession, remain ineligible.
“The Government has rightly recognised that unpaid placements expose students from the allied health sector to serious financial pressure, but the continued exclusion of veterinary students from the Commonwealth Prac Payment Scheme is both deeply disappointing and unacceptable, and the profession deserves an explanation,” said AVA President, Dr Diana Barker.
“Just five weeks ago, when H5 bird flu was confirmed on the Australian mainland for the first time, it was veterinarians who stood between the first incursion and the prevention of a national crisis. Veterinarians safeguard our $90 billion agricultural sector, our biosecurity status, our food security and public health. Today’s announcement sends a very poor signal to a profession being asked to carry the weight of the nation’s biosecurity defence: that the pipeline of future veterinarians is not worth the same investment as every other frontline health workforce,” said Dr Barker.
Veterinary students face extreme financial pressure during their training. The mandatory 52 weeks of unpaid placement, a mentally and physically demanding workload and the length of the veterinary course mean many students must give up paid work for extended periods. The cost of travel and accommodation for placements is entirely self-funded and without subsidy, which limits rural and regional placement experiences. This is despite clear evidence indicating that early exposure to rural practice strongly influences the likelihood of a graduate choosing a rewarding veterinary career in regional practice.
The consequences are already visible. Australia’s veterinary sector is in its ninth consecutive year of workforce shortage, with the deficit most severe in the regional, rural and remote communities where biosecurity incursions —including the recent H5 detections in Western Australia — are most likely to first emerge.
“Extending the Prac Payment to veterinary students would remove a genuine financial barrier, open up rural placements, and strengthen the regional veterinary workforce that Australia’s biosecurity depends upon. The scheme is established, proven and working; including veterinary students is a natural and modest step, and every argument the Government has made today for allied health students applies with equal relevance to veterinary students,” Dr Barker said.
In its 2026–27 Pre-Budget Submission, the AVA called on the Australian Government to invest $12.2 million per year to include veterinary students in the existing Commonwealth Prac Payment Scheme, enabling travel and exposure to more regional areas of Australia during their studies.
“We cannot ask a depleted workforce to protect the nation from H5 bird flu and the next emergency animal disease while declining to invest in the students who will replace them. If the Government is serious about biosecurity, food security and the health of regional Australia, it must be serious about supporting our vets in training. We urge the Government to reconsider this decision and extend the Commonwealth Prac Payment to veterinary students without delay,” Dr Barker said.