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Vet student appeal for prac payments

By Contributed

Jul 27, 2026

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the new prac payments at the 50th Australian Labor Party national convention in Adelaide on Thursday, July 23. Photo by MICK TSIKAS, AAP

Veterinary students have again been excluded from the Commonwealth Prac Payment, weeks after the profession led the response to Australia's first mainland detection of H5 bird flu, the Australian Veterinary Association says.

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The prime minister announced on July 23 that the scheme, which provides means-tested cost-of-living support during unpaid clinical placements, would be extended to 10 more health professions, including physiotherapy, pharmacy and paramedicine.

Veterinary students, who must complete 52 weeks of unpaid placement, among the longest requirements of any profession, remain ineligible.

The association’s president Diana Barker said the decision was "deeply disappointing and unacceptable".

"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," she said.

The association said self-funded travel and accommodation costs were limiting rural placement experiences, while the veterinary sector was in its ninth consecutive year of workforce shortage.

Those shortages are most severe in the regional communities where biosecurity incursions were most likely to emerge.

The association's 2026-27 pre-budget submission called for $12.2 million a year to add veterinary students to the scheme.

“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,” Dr Barker said.

"We urge the government to reconsider this decision."