Speak Out June 2017

Association news

An Independent NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission will be established in early 2018 to oversee the quality and safety of services funded through the NDIS. The government has committed $209 million in the budget for the commission. SPA is pleased to see that the commission will be independent from governments and the NDIA and it will report to parliament. It will also act as the formal complaints process for the scheme and have powers to investigate issues as they arise. The commission will be responsible for provider registration – hopefully this will replace the fragmented system and registration requirements currently experienced by speech pathologists in different states Speech pathologists working in aged care will be pleased to see some modest investments. The Association is hoping for more significant dollars, but this would not be until the current review of the My Aged Care Reforms is completed later this year. Aged care home services have been given a boost (costing $5.5 billion over two years) and an Aged Care Workforce Strategy is being planned. The Association has already been “in the ear” of the departmental official who will be leading the development of the strategy about the importance of considering the often sub-contracted speech pathology workforce in aged care. There is $3.1 million in the budget for improvements in the MAC IT interface. Schools Regardless of which side of side of the “political fence” you sit, most people are applauding signs that there might be an end in sight to the “school funding wars” with the government committing $18.6 billion over 10 years to be distributed to schools according to need. Branded Gonski 2.0 these measures still have to pass the senate to be realised. Mr Gonski is leading an inquiry into the best ways to lift Australia’s literacy and numeracy standards and the Association will be front and centre talking about the evidence-based strategies. Cost of a speech pathology degree Our universities are being squeezed with an efficiency cut, which basically means they have to do the same things and more with less money (to the tune of $900 million less over 10 years). Speech pathology degrees are expected to increase in cost by 7.5 per cent by 2022 and those of us with HELP/HECS debts will begin repaying when we are earning $42K (currently it is at $55K) from July 2019. Federal Budget 2017 papers are available at www.budget.gov.au and territories. Aged care

Regardless of which side of side of the “political fence” you sit, most people are applauding signs that

there might be an end in sight to the “school funding wars”.

Ronelle Hutchison Manager, Policy and Advocacy

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June 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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