I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday break and have come back refreshed and ready for the year ahead.  

Recently, I presented the NDS’s State of the Sector report from a Queensland perspective.  

The Queensland sector is particularly feeling the effects of growing workforce shortages in regional and remote areas of the state. Disability support workers and allied health workers are in short supply, and this has led to lengthy waits for services and, in some cases, providers not being able to service clients.  

In light of the systemic issues being felt in regional and remote parts of Australia, we encourage you to attend or perhaps provide a submission to NDS’s upcoming Regional and Remote Conference 2023 on 14 March at the Darwin Convention Centre.  

The State of the Sector report highlighted ongoing concerns around more organisations expecting to make a loss this year compared with last year. Providers are feeling the administrative burden of NDIS compliance while not believing this is improving client safety. There is also disquiet over whether DES policy reforms are progressing fast enough or going in the right direction.  

Despite such concerns and all the various changes that providers have had to contend with in recent years, the State of the Sector report reveals a renewed positivity about the future. No doubt some of this is inspired by a number of reviews into the disability sector. 

I would like to draw your attention to one such review. NDS has recently provided a submission to the Joint Standing Committee’s Review into the Culture and Capability of the NDIA. Our website has a summary of our submission, or you can read the full submission for yourself.  

We would very much like to hear how we can be of assistance to you, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our office.