Submission No 108
INQUIRY INTO FOUNDATIONAL AND DISABILITY SUPPORTS AVAILABLE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN NEW SOUTH WALES
Organisation: Speech Pathology Australia Date Received: 18 September 2026
Speech Pathology Australia Level 15, 380 La Trobe Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 E: T: speechpathologyaustralia.org.au
The Hon. Natasha Maclaren-Jones MLC Chair, Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales Legislative Council Parliament of New South Wales
18 September 2026
Dear Chair and Committee Members,
Re: Supplementary submission – Foundational and disability supports available for children and young people in New South Wales.
Speech Pathology Australia is the national peak body for speech pathologists, with over 16,000 members, including over 4,500 in NSW. Around 60% of members work in the private sector.
We thank the Committee for the opportunity to provide a supplementary submission to this Inquiry. We have grave concerns about the future of foundational and disability supports for children and young people in New South Wales. Specifically, the proposed Foundational Supports arrangements are inadequate to meet the level of need among children with disability in New South Wales and risk leaving a generation of children without timely access to critical supports.
Several important gaps remain between SPA’s recommendations¹ and the current approach in New South Wales, particularly regarding utilisation of the full workforce, and provision of supports within the education sector.
We respectfully draw these matters to the Committee’s attention, as they relate directly to the question of whether disability supports are available, accessible, equitable and sustainable for children and young people across New South Wales. This submission should be considered alongside submission #24 provided in April 2025 and the evidence provided by Ms Lyn Brodie in the hearing on 19 June 2025 as part of the delegation for Allied Health Professions Australia.
- Utilise the full allied health workforce.
We remain concerned that current procurement arrangements prioritise non-government organisations while private providers - representing the majority of the skilled workforce - are excluded. In combination with the increase in children needing to access foundational supports, this exclusion of such a large part of the skilled workforce at a time when shortages are affecting the early intervention and allied health sectors¹ is likely to further restrict access to care.
Approximately 78% of SPA members working with children under 12 years in New South Wales work in private practice. In many communities, especially rural, regional, and
¹ Speech Pathology Australia, Submission to the Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales, Submission No. 24, April 2025, p. 4-5.
The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited • ABN 17 008 393 440
remote areas, private practitioners who live and work in the area represent the available speech pathology workforce.
Extensive consultation was conducted by the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) about the future Foundational Supports program across NSW in late 2025. The information and suggested actions from these consultations strongly align with the recommendations previously made by Speech Pathology Australia to this committee.
However, the implementation arrangements that have been proposed by DCJ do not reflect the evidence within the consultation report. Participants discussed the need to maintain access to local supports, including for profit providersii. Access to existing providers with skills and experience in early intervention was highlighted as critical in rural, regional and remote communities.
Despite this, the DCJ expression of interest process was specified to be for not-for-profit organisations only. We are concerned that the organisations that were successful do not have a sufficient workforce with the required skills to meet the demand for services. This may force speech pathologists into subcontracting arrangements with high workloads but without appropriate supports or supervision. These factors are viewed to contribute to staff attrition and workforce shortagesiii.
SPA welcomes advice that the DCJiv is exploring a panel arrangement for private allied health practitioners. However, details about the scope, scale, timing and accessibility of this arrangement have not yet been released. Additionally, the promised workforce transition plan is not yet in place and contracted supports are due to begin on 1 October 2026.
We recommend:
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that NSW extend procurement and commissioning arrangements to utilise the available speech pathology workforce, including creating accessible engagement pathways for private practitioners to ensure access to care.
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that data is collected regarding the availability of services and waiting times to access commissioned services, with a plan to intervene if waiting times exceed 12 months.
- Improve timely access for families.
The DCJ consultation report, and the Committee’s interim report both highlighted the current system is fragmented and families are facing significant barriers to accessing appropriate supports, including lengthy waiting times. There are significant workforce shortages across the early childhood sector, particularly in public health and education. As discussed within the Committee’s interim report, services are even more limited in rural and remote areasv.
In October 2025, almost a third of our NSW members reported that children aged 0-8 are waiting more than 6 months to be seen by a speech pathologist.
These lengthy waiting times and service restrictions do not align with best practice early intervention. As identified by the Committee in Finding 12 - intervening early is critical to improving developmental outcomes. We are gravely concerned that waiting times will
continue to increase as there will not be the available services within the public system to meet demand.
Further, there has been significant focus on identifying the needs of children through services such as the Brighter Beginnings program. We would highlight for the committee that there must be appropriate service options available after a child has been identified as needing supports. Early identification without intervention will only increase demand and the pool of children waiting to be seen.
We acknowledge efforts to simplify access to supports for families and recognise the intent of the proposed Central Intake and Allocation Servicevi. However, the introduction of a centrally managed allocation model raises important questions regarding family choice, provider choice and the responsiveness of service pathways.
A central intake service may create a bottle neck whilst referrals are processed, creating further delays to accessing service. It does not align with the concept of soft entry points and local options for intake.
Due to its centralised nature, this process will be limited to DCJ’s preferred providers and may not reflect the breadth of available services in particular areas. Families report that continuity of relationships and the ability to access locally available providers are important contributors to successful outcomesvii. Limiting access to this workforce could make it harder for children and families to access support and does not align with Recommendation 10 of this committee.
We encourage the Committee to ensure that the Thriving Kids model will address the need for timely access to services and establish transparent review mechanisms where supports do not meet a family’s needs.
3. Ensure children can access supports where and they live, learn and play.
We strongly support the intention to deliver supports in children’s natural environments, including early childhood education settings, schools and community settings. However, there are significant barriers to this occurring in NSW. Our earlier evidence to the Committeeviii highlighted longstanding inconsistencies in access to speech pathology services within educational environments, aligned with the findings within the Interim Report of this committee.
In our 2025 survey, NSW members reported there is the greatest need for services in primary schools, preschools and early childhood education and care settings. This is particularly problematic in NSW, due to the lack of embedded allied health supports within educational settings compared with other states and territories such as Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
We support Finding 15 and Recommendation 13 within the Committee’s report that there must be a concerted effort in the new Thriving Kids program to address these systemic issues. There is a need for upskilling of the workforce in early childhood education and care settings, as the workforce that is frequently interacting with children and families at early points in their journey. However, there do not appear to be any plans to provide these types of supports under Thriving Kids.
We wish to highlight the concept of multi-tiered systems of support (refer to Attachment 1) and encourage implementation of this model in NSW. Speech pathologists play an important role in training and building the capacity of people around the child, and locally based providers would be best placed to provide supports along this continuum. Supports at tier one and two level must also be funded as part of the Thriving Kids system to ensure uplift of the other workforces, and empowerment of families and communities around the child.
Conclusion
It is critical that these issues are addressed to ensure that children and families can access timely, high-quality supports regardless of where they live or their family’s circumstances.
We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues in more detail with the Committee. Please contact Chief, Policy and Advocacy at if we can assist the Committee or Inquiry further.
Yours sincerely
Chief Executive Officer Speech Pathology Australia
i NSW Government, Foundational Supports for Children: Community Consultation Report, January 2026, p 24. ii NSW Government, Foundational Supports for Children Community Consultation Report, January 2026. iii NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales, Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales: First Report, Report No. 1, February 2026, p. 66, Committee comment 3.164, available at: NSW Parliament report. iv NSW Department of Communities and Justice, Thriving Kids: Expression of Interest Briefing Session Slides, 13 May 2026, pp 9-11. v NSW Legislative Council Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales Interim Report, February 2026 vi NSW Department of Communities and Justice, Thriving Kids: Expression of Interest Briefing Session Slides, 13 May 2026, p 9. vii NSW Government, Foundational Supports for Children: Community Consultation Report, January 2026, pp 30-31. viii New South Wales Legislative Council Select Committee on Foundational and Disability Supports Available for Children and Young People in New South Wales, Transcript of Proceedings, 19 June 2025, pp 16-17.