That ICPA Australia lobby the Minister for Education to include students from regional, remote and very remote areas and also students wishing to travel to regional and remote areas as being eligible for exceptional circumstances for the Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP).
Currently the CPP will only be given to students who are already receiving a commonwealth support payment (for example Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY or Austudy) or satisfy a ‘need to work test’ where students show that they need to work during their normal studies (on average 15 hours a week) in a 4 week period prior to placement or when applying for CPP. There is no consideration or exceptional circumstances offered to students from regional, remote and very remote areas as well as the additional costs for students associated with travelling to regional or remote parts of the country to undertake placement. We don’t want students choosing to not complete regional, rural and remote placements due not being eligible for CPP and experiencing placement poverty.
