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From the President

As I write this month’s introduction, the sun is shining between storms, and my jacaranda buds are beginning to burst into their glorious purple blossom. The seasons have changed, and Brisbane’s warmer wetter season is on its way.

Jacaranda blossom in Southern Queensland, signifying the end of the traditional academic year; our student members are busy studying, whilst our academic members are busy finalising teaching and assessments for the semester. Good luck and congratulations to all those involved! Branches will be busy planning ‘Welcome to the Profession’ events for the newly graduating cohort of students. It would be great for as many speech pathologists as possible to attend these events and meet the future of our profession. See your Branch e-News for more information. As you start to see the end of the year, don’t forget that mandatory CPSP status for all practising members will be in place for 2016. That means you will need to meet the annual points requirement for CPSP in 2015. Further information on this can be found on page eight. A strong, evidence-based profession is vital for the best outcomes for our clients. And talking of ongoing professional development – don’t forget to start saving and planning for your trip to the Perth Conference in May 2016, the keynote speakers are announced in this issue. I look forward to meeting you there (and hearing and meeting our keynote speakers)! Our advocacy works continues, and I would like to thank all those members who have provided their expertise and knowledge to the development of submissions to various inquiries and reviews. Outlined in this edition is a snapshot of the data provided through the Private Practice Survey (page six). This data was collected to inform the reviews of Primary Health Care and Medicare. Professor Sharynne McLeod and I were invited to present to the Australian Government Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment inquiry into Current Levels of Access and Attainment for students with disability in the school system, and the impact on families associated with inadequate levels of support .

The presentation (the introduction to which can be found on page four), and our submission focussed on the need to have speech pathologists as an integral part of the school team. The submission was informed by Professor McLeod’s research on the effects of speech, language communication needs on student performance on NAPLAN. This work attracted media interest with the East Coast major dailies and a national paper running an article. More information about this work can be found on pages 4 and 5. Thanks go to Ronelle Hutchinson, SPA's Policy and Advocacy Manager; Michael Kerrisk, SPA's Communications and Marketing Manager; Gail Mulcair, Chief Executive Officer; and Professor Sharynne McLeod for all your work with this. Northern Territory Member Amanda O’Keefe and Ronelle Hutchinson attended the National Rural Health Alliance conference and met with many politicians to talk about the difficulties associated with accessing the right services at the right time in rural and remote Australia. An unexpected benefit of the meeting was being in Canberra at the time of the leadership spill! October brings Book of the Year to Brisbane this year. The awards are being hosted by the State Library of Queensland. This edition of Speak Out gives you a sneak peek into the winners – but shhh… it is a secret until 15 October (more info on page 14). At the time of writing Queensland has finally announced its early launch sites of the NDIS, and New South Wales and Victoria have signed up to the full roll-out of the scheme. The NDIS is continuing to raise questions and concerns with members – but Super Speechie on page 12 has it all under control! I think that I am now over my allocated space – so much to say, so little space to say it in… Enjoy this month’s bumper issue of Speak Out, catching up with all the latest Association News. gaenor dixon National President

Speak Out October 2015

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