Speak Out February 2018

Hydrate and

Hon. Raymond Williams MP, NSW Minister for Disability Services, opening the SPA National Conference on 29 May in Sydney.

Feel Great with

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• Productivity Commission Inquiry into the Costs of the NDIS, • South Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into Access to the Education System for Students with Disabilities, • The Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport Inquiry into the Hearing Health and Wellbeing of Australia, • The Australian Health Ministers Advisory Committee’s National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions Report, • National Disability Discrimination Commissioner’s Report on National Consultation Shaping our future: Discussions on disability rights, • Australian Law Reform Commission Report into Elder Abuse, • Department of Health National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions. Examples of some key outcomes/advocacy successes • The NDIS specified that a number of professions (including speech pathology) must hold current membership of their relevant professional association, i.e., speech pathologists must hold practicing membership with Speech Pathology Australia, in order to register as an NDIS provider, • The Australian Bureau of Statistics formally released its thematic publication Australians Living with Communication Disability in November, • South Australia’s Department of Education and Child Development announced additional funding for literacy which includes hiring an extra 10 speech pathologists to work in schools and preschools, • South Australia’s Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service announced a reversal of intent to remove speech pathology from the service and will retain a specialised speech pathology service at 3.0 EFT senior level positions. Ensuring our profession continues to have a seat at the table Our members and staff have continued to represent the profession on a range of government and sector working groups, taskforces and alliances, including: Allied Health Professions Australia, National Rural Health Alliance, Mental Health Australia, Consumers Health Forum, Department of Veteran Affairs Allied Health Working Group, National Aged Care Alliance and Professions Australia. And finally a very big ‘thank you’... …to the many members who have shared their expertise and experiences to help inform our submissions and support our advocacy efforts throughout the year. As we often say, one of the strengths of our advocacy work is that it genuinely reflects the experiences of our members and their clients. We look forward to working for you all in 2018.

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Policy and Advocacy team

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February 2018 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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