Over the past few months, NDS has been very engaged in advocacy for the disability sector in SA. We keep returning to a handful of key issues — sustainability, workforce and compliance — but we have also discussed the unfunded supports organisations are delivering, the state budget, and the planning of foundational supports. One line of enquiry we have been following is targeted migration into SA to boost the disability workforce, especially in the regions.

We brought most of these issues up in our recent meetings with the state Disability Minister, Nat Cook, and Shadow Minister, Heidi Girolamo, DHS, the NDIA, and the Quality and Safeguards Commission, the Attorney General and the SA Business Chamber. We also hosted a breakfast meeting for the Acting Commissioner of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, Michael Phelan, which was very well received.  

Incidentally, your NDS State Committee has been working very hard on your behalf. For those passionate about getting providers’ voices heard, the committee is a great way to contribute to disability policy in the state. If you wish to get involved in our work, you can nominate for a position on the State Committee.

NDS wants to lead the sector in developing best practice standards for foundational supports for the state. We’ll be starting with Early Childhood Intervention and would love to draw on our members’ skills and knowledge to inform the state government as they design services. If you wish to be involved, please contact NDS’s SA office.

We are delighted to be working with StewartBrown on a workshop in Adelaide on understanding and addressing vacancy rates and unfunded supports in SL homes. Details will be available shortly on the website.  

As many of you are aware, the SA Government wants to introduce a portable long service leave scheme for the community services sector. Similar schemes have already been introduced in other states. With the sector under such financial strain and about to undergo transformational change, NDS is very concerned about the added burden the introduction of this Bill will have. Neither do we believe the scheme is a cost efficient and effective strategy to solve the sector’s workforce shortages. We have written a formal response to the proposed Bill and will be meeting the government to discuss our concerns next month.

As the peak body for disability services, NDS applied to state treasury for funding to help the state’s providers as they face the long period of reform coming out of the Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS Review. Our submission outlines how we would use the money to help providers develop a skilled and sustainable workforce, increase opportunities for the employment of people with a disability, and boost support for regional and remote providers. Sadly, our submission was not successful.

We are looking forward to hosting our next networking event for Executive Leaders in Walkerville on 16 July. Our website has all the details to register. It will be a great chance to catch up with fellow leaders in disability, share an insight or two, and support each other during these challenging times.