In this op-ed, Beatrix Fisher, head of social media, Havas PLAY Australia, spotlights the outdated nature of Australia’s internship systems in media and creative industries.
For too long, internships in Australia, especially within media, advertising and the broader creative industries, have stagnated. They’re still widely seen as a rite of passage. Talk to anyone in an agency or creative team and they’ll recount stories of unpaid placements. Long weeks of hands-on work with no financial recognition, the juggle of university and part-time work. This is a culture that each generation partakes in because “they did it when they were younger.”
Just because we experienced it doesn’t mean we can’t change it for future generations. It’s time to draw a line in the sand.
Today’s internship landscape in Australia is dominated by exposure and coursework-based placements tied to university units so students can apply theory in real workplaces. These experiences are intended to give students real-world exposure and networking opportunities before graduation.
But here’s the persistent issue: most of these internships are unpaid. While being unpaid is lawful under Fair Work guidelines this is only when the placement is part of an accredited vocational program and genuinely benefits the student’s learning. Yet many internships blur this line. Students perform substantive work, sometimes work that would otherwise be done by paid staff, without compensation. This not only raises ethical questions, it skirts the purpose of the law itself.
The prevailing model also excludes talent who cannot afford to work for free and privileges those with existing support networks. In doing so, it narrows who gets access to the industry, potentially shutting out skilled young people from working-class, regional, Indigenous and migrant backgrounds. This deprives the creative sector of the diverse perspectives it claims to value.
Having said this, there are bright spots of change. Swinburne University’s Professional Placement Program embeds paid, full-time industry experience into undergraduate degrees, offering students 6 or 12-month placements where they are paid an industry base salary and earn academic credit all while working full time in the industry. But programs like this are the exception, not the norm. Too often, responsibility for reform sits within universities alone rather than being shared by agencies, broadcasters and creative teams themselves.
Young talent are becoming more essential, not less. As teams get leaner and technology accelerates output, fresh perspective, cultural fluency and adaptive thinking become the difference between work that merely functions and work that actually resonates with audiences.
To foster the next generation of talent, I believe there are four crucial steps to make this possible as an industry:
1. Fairly Paid Internships.
Paid internships should be standard, not fringe. Compensation signals respect for time and effort, enables interns to fully engage without financial strain and opens doors to a more diverse talent pool. Paying interns isn’t just generous, it’s smart. Especially in a competitive talent market.
2. Structured Industry Learning Initiatives.
Internships must go beyond “work experience”. Bespoke learning (with defined outcomes, mentors, reflective practice, check-ins and feedback loops) can ensure that interns learn how to work, not just where to work. This elevates the experience from labour to practical workplace-based education.
3. Multiple Pathways Into Industry.
University shouldn’t be a prerequisite for meaningful entry into creative careers. A healthy industry creates multiple on-ramps, recognising that talent emerges through different experiences, backgrounds and stages of life.
4. Cultural Normalisation of Value.
We must shift industry culture, so interns are seen as contributors with value, not as cheap labour. That means ongoing conversations across agencies, in-house teams, production houses and broadcasters.
Bottom line – if we want an advertising sector that truly reflects the audiences we serve, we need to make fair, inclusive internships the norm.
At Havas, we’ve taken an intentional approach to breaking this norm. Initiatives like PLAY Your Part are part of a broader Havas Village AU strategy to create supported pathways into the industry. These pathways aren’t standalone solutions – they’re just some of the pathways among many we believe the industry needs to build.
This approach reflects how we show up at Havas: deliberately different, values-led and focused on long-term impact over short-term convenience.
Moving forward I would like to see agencies, universities and in-house teams working together to set standards that value interns as contributors, not commodities. From here we can set a new standard for how we foster and grow talent – the future of our industry depends on it.
