Advocacy Update: Thriving Kids and NDIS Reform

As important reforms progress across Thriving Kids and the proposed NDIS Bill changes, we are ramping up our advocacy for you. 

Thriving Kids 

 We have been focused on ensuring children and families can access coordinated, responsive supports provided by the entire workforce, including private, public and NGO providers.

Last week, CEO Lyn Brodie and members of the policy and advocacy team met with the office of Abigail Boyd MLC, who is the deputy chair of the Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales. 

Screenshot of a virtual meeting in a four-panel grid layout showing four participants on a video call. Three participants are wearing headsets, and Speech Pathology Australia branding appears in several backgrounds. Participant name labels are visible in each panel, and one participant is shown in a home office setting with a plant and bookshelf in the background.

We are preparing a supplementary submission to the re-opened NSW consultation and are looking to present at any future hearings in NSW. We will also be speaking with other NSW MPs in the coming weeks to discuss the issue of the supply of services for young children and the need to involve the whole workforce.

Members of the policy and advocacy team also met with the Tasmanian Thriving Kids Taskforce last week for an open discussion about the future system of supports.

Screenshot of a virtual meeting with three video panels. Two participants are shown individually against Speech Pathology Australia branded virtual backgrounds while wearing headsets, and a third panel shows two people seated at a conference table with laptops in a meeting room. Name and room labels are visible on screen, and Speech Pathology Australia logos appear throughout the meeting backgrounds.

Things are moving quickly, keep up to date about what's happening with Thriving Kids in your state or territory.

NDIS Bill and Pricing

Following the extension of the NDIS Bill Inquiry, we have engaged with various Ministers and Senators. This includes meeting with the offices of Minister Jess Walsh, Senator Fatima Payman and Senator Jordon Steele-John. We also lodged a supplementary submission to the Senate inquiry and are seeking to participate in public hearings later this month.

Screenshot of a virtual meeting in a three-panel layout. Two participants appear against Speech Pathology Australia branded virtual backgrounds while wearing headsets, and a third participant appears in an office setting with a blurred background. Participant name labels are visible on each video tile, and Speech Pathology Australia logos appear in the virtual backgrounds.

Three people standing indoors in front of a wall of vertical timber slats. One person wears a patterned top and dark cardigan, another wears a light-coloured textured sweater with a long necklace, and the third wears a black, white and blue dress with glasses. The group is posing for a photo in a modern office or meeting space.

Our advocacy is focused on these key priorities: 

  1. Strengthening the definition of functional capacity  
  2. Improving safeguards in pricing and budget decisions and 
  3. Recognising the full range of evidence used in practice 

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