On Tuesday 21 March we hosted our first Network Meeting for the year — an update on the current PACE trial. The NDIA presented an update about the trial numbers, process and learning to date, then answered many of your questions. It was great to hear some real learning from the Tasmanian PACE experience.  

On 16 March in Burnie, Senator Anne Urquhart hosted a Disability Workforce Roundtable with NDIS Minister Bill Shorten. The session was well attended by people with disability, representatives from disability providers, and the education and workforce recruitment sector.  

Despite being a short session, many topics were discussed, including the need to increase representation of people with disability in media and the workforce, the need to routinely discuss adding employment supports to participants plans, the complexity and barriers of service interactions, and the challenges of thin markets. 

Minister Shorten thanked attendees for their willingness to share problems and solutions. He called out the extraordinary work of disability providers, who, since the introduction of the NDIS, have made the switch to treating people with disability as true consumers, rather than charity cases.         

Image description (right): Minister for the NDIS, the Hon. Bill Shorten MP, NDS Tasmania Committee Chair Mark Jessop and NDS State Manager Lizzie Castles.      

If there is a topic you would like us to present on or discuss at a Network Meeting, please let us know. For upcoming webinars and events, please check: National Communities of Practice or upcoming Tasmanian Network Meetings.  

I look forward to seeing many of you at these events as the year rolls on.

Events

Healthy Eating Project 

We are in the final three months of our healthy eating project. However, you can still register for our free cooking demonstrations and nutrition workshops. If the dates don’t suit you, we might be able to offer alternative dates, either on your site or a site organised by NDS.  

For more information and upcoming dates visit the event pages: Nutrition Education Workshop  or Nutrition Cooking Demonstrations.  

Workforce Coordination Project  

NDS is a proud partner of the Workforce Coordination Project, in which we have joined with TasCOSS and other peak bodies in community services to respond to workforce issues in the sector. The next Workforce Coalition Network meeting will be held on Tuesday 28 March in Southern Tasmania. Go to the TasCOSS webpage for more information and to register.