To Whom it May Concern,
Submission for the Thriving Kids Inquiry, Parliament of Australia, CANBERRA.
My name is Matthew (Matt) Frost, QSM and I am privileged to submit very briefly on the Thriving Kids Inquiry initiated by the Parliament of Australia. I do so as someone who has the unique skill set of being someone with ASD, a professional expert in the field (I chaired the Implementation Advisory Group for the New Zealand Autism Spectrum Disorder Guideline for 3 years) and a senior Public Servant in my home country of New Zealand.
I will make brief insights here because I strongly believe that one should take care before entering the internal decisions of another jurisdiction. However, I hope my insights are helpful and I would be delighted to speak to them more. I should say that I am submitting as an individual and not on behalf of the New Zealand Government.
I believe three elements will be key to the success of the Thriving Kids initiative. At present I see little evidence of these three elements.
- Thriving Kids must be tied to the wider Australian Disability and Autism ecosystem.
At present, there appears to be little connection to the wider Australian disability and autism ecosystem in the design of the programme. I thought it was extremely interesting that the Minister’s remarks at the National Press Club mentioned neither the Australian Disability or the National Autism Strategy. New Zealand experience would indicate that this link will be essential to success. If Thriving Kids is designed on its own just as a cost saving measure without links in its design to these promising pieces of work, then it runs the risk of not achieving what it seeks to.
- Thriving Kids should be tied to outcomes which are squarely focused on what is the best outcome for Australians with Autism.
Some of the initial framings of the Thriving Kids programme have been seen as highly problematic by the Australian Autism Community. I agree. It appears on the face of it that the Thriving Kids programme wishes to reduce negative fiscal and social impacts of having people with autism as part of the Australian community. This is inconsistent with other jurisdictions which have either sought to further understand what rights of autistic people might look like consistent with international obligations such as the UNCRPD, or provide an evidence based synthesis approach from which all stakeholders may make informed decisions around questions such as support. Thriving Kids also has the opportunity to consider what a whole of life approach might look like for Australians with autism in a way which grapples with questions around education and employment. In that respect, it was good to see membership from school unions on the advisory group, but very disappointing to see limited representation from the Australian Autism Community.
- Thriving Kids should make intervention decisions based not on short term cost benefit analysis but rather an longitudinal approach which considers an ability to benefit over a person’s lifetime. It should also examine wellbeing of people with autism and their families.
I am most happy to speak to my submission. I would be unable to travel to Canberra but am happy to explore other means to share my insights. I should also say that I am connected through international fora with Australian officials working on the programme and am happy to explore my ideas through that forum and that I offered my expertise to the Thriving Kids Advisory Group and that offer remains open.
Matthew (Matt) Frost, QSM.
3rd October, 2025.