Submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the Thriving Kids Initiative

Organisation: Succeed Healthcare Solutions Pty Ltd
ABN: 85649235414
Contact: redacted
Address: 5/27 Discovery Drive, North Lakes QLD 4509
Phone: 1300 512 016
Email: info@succeedhealthcare.com.au
Date: 03.10.25

Introduction

Succeed Healthcare Solutions is a multi-award-winning allied health service that has supported families across Australia since 2011. We deliver innovative group-based occupational therapy, physiotherapy and allied health assistant programs that combine evidence-based practice with real-world settings such as sports centres, equestrian facilities, and community hubs.

Our model is collaborative, functional, and focused on outcomes. We measure progress through validated tools such as PEERS, Secret Agent Society (SAS), MEYA, and annual participant surveys. Results consistently show improvements in social skills, regulation, and family wellbeing. Families rate our services highly, particularly our ability to combine evidence-based practice with practical delivery in the community.

We welcome the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry. However, the Thriving Kids initiative as currently framed is inadequate to meet the needs of children with developmental differences. The approach shifts responsibility onto mainstream services that are already overstretched, and away from the NDIS, which was designed to provide tailored support. The government’s narrative that the NDIS is “not for autism” is deeply concerning and risks undermining outcomes for children and families.

This submission addresses the Terms of Reference and highlights systemic concerns, using our evidence base and family feedback to guide recommendations.

Systemic Concerns

Mainstream systems such as schools and childcare already struggle to support children with autism. Teachers report being overwhelmed and unprepared, and many children are suspended or excluded. Childcare workers and early educators often lack even the most basic training in autism. Expecting these systems to take on more without investment is unrealistic. Teachers already experience the fastest rates of burnout of any profession in Australia. Do we really want to push more of them out the door? Childcare is also already understaffed, and finding sufficient qualified educators is a persistent challenge.

Schools themselves are not currently designed to meet the needs of many active and curious children. Too often learning is confined to four walls, and the curriculum is overcrowded. Australian primary school results in reading and maths already lag behind international benchmarks. Expecting schools to take on additional responsibilities for developmental support without reform will further strain a system that is not delivering strong academic results even for neurotypical students. Embedding therapists to help design and deliver more practical, engaging, and inclusive curricula and break times would benefit the entire education system, not just children with additional needs.

There is scope, however, to do more in workplaces to educate and coach parents to equip them with strategies to support their child. Workplaces provide a setting where families are already engaged, and offering parent education and coaching in these contexts could reduce stress, improve parenting confidence, and spread evidence-based strategies without overloading already stretched education and childcare sectors. Therapy at school may not translate to the home if carers are not involved.

Families also face long waitlists for services. These waitlists are not necessary as there is provider capacity, but there are no consistent, nationally supported mechanisms to match families with available services. Small, responsive providers are ready to deliver, but families often cannot find them, especially in rural and remote areas where trust must be built over time.

The government narrative that “NDIS is not for autism” misrepresents both the original intent of the scheme and the evidence of lifelong disability impacts. Thriving Kids, as currently proposed, risks becoming another underfunded initiative that fails to meet the needs of children and families.

TOR 1 – Evidence-based information and resources

Providing families with resources is important, but information alone is not enough. Autism and developmental differences are complex and pervasive. Even as a trained health professional and parent of children with additional needs, it took reading extensively, attending courses, and still receiving professional guidance before I could make a difference for my own children many years ago. Families need more than online resources and brochures, they need structured, coached support that helps them apply strategies in real life.

Our own participant surveys reinforce this. Families consistently reported that our services reduced their stress, improved their ability to support their child, and provided practical skills they could apply at home and in the community (Participant Survey Summaries 2022, 2023, 2024).

Recommendation: Fund resources that are embedded within coaching and ongoing professional support, rather than standalone materials that families cannot implement without guidance.

TOR 2 – Effectiveness of current and previous programs

Our delivery of evidence-based programs demonstrates measurable impact.

PEERS 2024 Report: 67 percent of participants improved their social skills knowledge, with families also reporting reduced conflict during peer interactions.

SAS 2024 Quality Improvement Report:

• Spence Social Skills Questionnaire (Parent-rated): 100 percent improvement among those who completed pre and post assessments.
• Emotion Regulation and Social Skills Questionnaire (Parent-rated): 80 percent improvement
• Satisfaction: 88 percent of children reported enjoying the program, 71 percent of parents felt confident supporting their child’s future social and emotional development, and 86 percent of parents were satisfied overall.

MEYA 2024 Audit: 49.3 percent of outcomes improved and 31.8 percent remained stable across functioning domains.

It is critical to note that evidence-based groups are not “turn up and run.” Each 1-hour group session requires around three hours of professional time for planning, preparation, case conferencing, follow-up, handouts, analysis and case notes. Travel is

often needed to deliver groups in community settings. Without this, quality and fidelity are compromised. Current funding models fail to account for this reality.

Our experience also shows that these programs should not be limited to therapy settings. SAS and PEERS should be embedded in all schools for children and adolescents, and adapted into workplaces for parents. If every child was taught emotional regulation, communication, and peer relationship skills as part of their education, and every parent was coached in the same strategies at work, the benefits would extend far beyond disability supports. This approach would reduce suspensions and exclusions, strengthen family relationships, improve workforce participation, and address wider social issues such as bullying and conflict.

Recommendation: Ensure evidence-based programs are funded with recognition of full delivery requirements, and embed SAS and PEERS into schools and workplaces as universal strategies to reduce wider social challenges.

TOR 3 – Equity and intersectional issues

Children from First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds face additional barriers to access. For rural and remote families, these barriers are compounded by lack of trust and lack of connection to providers.

We are willing and able to service rural and remote areas, including through place-based allied health assistant groups and telehealth. However, trust is the first barrier. Families are reluctant to engage when they don’t know us, and there are no effective, nationally maintained systems to connect families with providers who have capacity. As a result, support remains unavailable even when services exist.

Recommendation: Invest in trusted pathways that link families with providers, prioritising long-term relationship-building and cultural safety.

TOR 4 – Workforce support and training

Mainstream services such as schools and childcare are not trained to support children with autism and developmental differences. This leaves families facing exclusion and disengagement.

Our workforce model demonstrates a scalable alternative. By combining therapists with allied health assistants, we deliver programs at affordable rates and expand capacity without compromising outcomes. Importantly, AHAs are most effective when they come from a wide range of backgrounds and skills, not only from AHA-specific courses. Many formal AHA courses are of questionable quality and do not necessarily

prepare assistants for functional, community-based work. What matters is matching the right person with the right temperament, training, lived experience, or background skills to the supervision and training provided by allied health professionals.

Therapists should also be embedded directly in schools and playgroups, working alongside teachers, educators, and carers in real-time settings rather than in separate rooms. This integrated approach allows children to practise skills in their natural environments and ensures teachers learn strategies they can continue between therapy sessions. Pulling children out for isolated therapy is less effective and misses the opportunity to build teacher capacity at the same time.

It is also important not to rely on teacher aides as a substitute for therapy. While many are dedicated and caring, they often lack the training to work on the right skills in the right way. Too often aides either become the child’s playmate or focus on trying to keep the child calm or safe, rather than facilitating peer-to-peer interaction and building independence. This is not their fault, it reflects a lack of systemic training and support. The solution is to embed allied health professionals alongside educators, so aides can support but not carry the therapeutic load.

Allied health professionals also have the expertise to design curricula for schools and childcare services that benefit every student, not just those with additional needs. Just as embedding autism-friendly practices in workplaces improves conditions for all employees, embedding therapy-informed curricula in education would strengthen learning, resilience, and wellbeing across the board.

Recommendations:

• Expand training for mainstream educators and health professionals in evidence-based autism supports.
• Support the AHA workforce through structured supervision and ongoing skill development, recognising diverse entry pathways rather than narrowing to one formal qualification route.
• Embed therapists in classrooms and playgroups to build capacity across the system.
• Enable therapists to design curricula for schools and childcare that benefit all students.
• Invest in long-term strategies for rural access, including outreach and relationship-building, not just short-term pilots.

TOR 5 – Domestic and international policy experience

International initiatives such as Sure Start in the UK and Strengthening Families in the US show that ambitious programs can attract investment but do not always deliver sustained outcomes. Evaluations of both programs found inconsistent implementation, difficulty reaching those most in need, and limited long-term impact.

The lesson is clear. Large-scale initiatives that look good on paper often fail without strong local delivery, accountability, and continuity of funding. Australia should avoid repeating these mistakes.

Recommendation: Build reforms on consistent, community-embedded delivery models with clear accountability, not short-term or top-down programs.

Provider participation and sustainability

Small, responsive providers are critical to outcomes, yet the Thriving Kids model appears to favour NGOs and block-funded organisations. Many NGOs are already withdrawing from the NDIS or closing programs. Without deliberate design, smaller providers will be crowded out unless they form consortiums, which takes time and resources.

The HCWA program is a better model to build from than Thriving Kids as currently described. HCWA allowed diversity of providers, parent choice, and responsive service delivery. Thriving Kids risks narrowing the market and reducing family access to the services that work best for them.

Consistency, consultation, and viability

We support the need for greater consistency in funding and agree that the NDIS must be viable into the future. However, the way reforms are currently managed is destabilising the sector. Constant changes at short notice, narrow consultation windows, and tokenistic processes have created exhaustion among providers and families.

The lessons of RoboDebt must not be ignored. Rushing reform without genuine consultation and transparency causes harm. Thriving Kids risks repeating these mistakes if changes are announced without adequate time or detail.

There is also concern about the direction of reform. Families and providers perceive that the system is being de-privatised by stealth, with work shifted back into block-

funded NGO and government delivery. This undermines family choice and squeezes out smaller, responsive providers who are achieving outcomes.

Recommendations:

• Ensure genuine, timely consultation processes with adequate notice.
• Apply RoboDebt lessons by embedding transparency, fairness, and accountability in all reform.
• Retain diversity of providers, including small private practices, rather than concentrating services in block-funded models.

Communications and cultural change

Government messaging since 2022 has focused on rorting, yet at the same time the NDIA and Commission rated themselves as nil to minimal for financial competence. They had not been auditing or challenging claims, but still framed families and providers as the problem. This disconnect has deepened mistrust and damaged confidence across the sector.

The proposal to harmonise regulation under a single rebranded Commission raises further concerns. The NDIA and Commission have their own entrenched cultural issues, including bullying and failure to meet their own service standards. If they have not ensured the NDIS itself met its obligations, it is unclear how they will credibly require others to meet standards under Thriving Kids.

Recommendations:

• Address cultural failings within the NDIA and Commission before expanding their authority.
• Ensure that any harmonised regulator is independent, transparent, and subject to the same standards it enforces on others.
• Rebuild credibility through consistent action, not rhetoric, and by modelling accountability first.

TOR 6 – Seamless transition through mainstream systems

Families consistently report that navigating multiple systems is exhausting. Each transition from child health to kindy, from kindy to school, from school to adolescence brings duplication, new assessments, and long waits. Families carry the burden of holding information across services.

Our evidence shows that children develop the skills to succeed in new settings when supported.

SAS 2024: 100 percent parent-rated social skills improvement, 80 percent parent-rated emotional regulation improvement, and families reporting greater confidence and satisfaction with the program.

PEERS 2024: 67 percent improved social skills knowledge, reducing conflict in peer interactions.

MEYA 2024: 49.3 percent of outcomes improved and 31.8 percent remained stable across functioning domains.

Participant surveys 2022–2024: families reported reduced isolation, improved participation in school and community, and high satisfaction with services.

Recommendations:

• Create shared outcomes frameworks across health, education, and community services to prevent duplication and reduce repeated assessments.
• Fund proactive transition supports at key points such as early childhood, school entry, and adolescence.
• Invest in systems that allow families to quickly find and access providers, reducing unnecessary wait times and improving continuity.

System sustainability and scope

It is increasingly obvious that psychosocial disability will be removed from the NDIS, followed by so-called mild to moderate autism and other developmental differences in adults. The assumption appears to be that Medicare and mainstream services can absorb this demand. This is unrealistic. Health professionals are already burning out at record rates, 60 percent report burnout, and 50 percent of GP practices are financially unviable even while bulk-billing under Medicare.

Shifting further responsibilities onto these systems will force caring professionals to act as charities without charity status or concessions. This is unsustainable and will drive more professionals out of the sector.

The NDIS must remain viable and inclusive. Consistency of funding is critical. Constant change at short notice undermines trust, destabilises services, and exhausts providers. Reform must be transparent, carefully planned, and fair.

Conclusion

Thriving Kids, as currently proposed, will not adequately meet the needs of children with developmental differences. It risks repeating the mistakes of past programs overseas, underestimating workforce pressures, and overloading mainstream systems that are already at breaking point.

Families need choice, trust, and stability. Providers need consistency, viability, and recognition of the true cost of delivering evidence-based programs. Government needs to learn from RoboDebt, rebuild trust, and avoid short-term rhetoric that undermines its own credibility.

The NDIS must remain a viable, sustainable scheme that works alongside mainstream systems, not in place of them. Thriving Kids must not become a vehicle for cost-shifting or de-privatisation by stealth. Children and families deserve better, they deserve a system that genuinely supports them to thrive.