The Adventure Begins
There is something to be said for being a noise maker. Recent social media activity highlighting the concerns of the private early childhood sector being excluded from conversation landed me a last minute invitation to the ‘National Co-design Roundtable: Child and Family Supports’ at Parliament House in Canberra. Time to head off and proudly represent Nacre Consulting, our clients and the private sector.
An uneventful flight on a tiny plane from Newcastle to Canberra got me here yesterday. A return to an old fave pub for dinner (the sensory overload that is the Kingston Hotel – a must try!) and early night ready for a big day with around 50 stakeholders, including Minister Shorten and Professor Bruce Bonyhady.
Start the Day with a Bang
I wake to a drizzly Canberra day and I dare not pose in front of Parliament House for a pic for all of the Nacre socials for fear of frizzy hair. Sorry Cathy, maybe after.
Despite monthly trips to the capital in my last role reporting to the Department of Social Services, I haven’t been to Parliament House since I was a parent volunteer on my daughter’s Year 6 Canberra camp 16 years ago. A silent protest on the lawn, then a not so silent one at the front door complete with media attention and vigilant federal police was creating a minor amount of chaos. Some school kids on their own Canberra excursion were rushed in, out of view of the cameras. Just another day at our nations capital.
The foyer is busy and there is a line of security checks to navigate with shades of the airport without the promise of a holiday. Following this, a sign in process and issuing of a badge. Being a late invitee I am not on the list but I have the Agenda in hand and the lovely Concierge sorts it out. (My badge has been checked more than once already!)
There is no progressing from the PH foyer without an escort. Ours eventually arrives and guides our large group to the second floor and into our meeting room.
I am warmly greeted, people seem to know who I am and they keep saying that they are so happy that I am here. This has taken me a little by surprise but I have learned from the best (looking at you Joy and Cathy) about owning it and I am feeling proud to be the voice of the private sector today.
The room is lovely. Name tags are on every place and we each have a microphone. It feels almost official and I feel almost important.
It Begins
The Minister is late, perhaps looking to make a grand entrance? My socials have been abuzz with NDIS Participants organising to protest the NDIS Amendment which is slated to pass through the Senate this week. I suspect that they are doing their usual excellent advocacy work.
There are a number of government observers in the room. The aim is for free flowing, frank conversation. My favourite kind.
Sector Data
We adjusted the agenda to account for the Minister being held up. Sector data provided by Loki Ball, Performl.
Loki presents some interesting data – I took a pic of the slides and will pull some bits out of it later. Utilization of NDIS funds remains low, especially in some areas of the country. $700m of committed funding for Allied Health remains unspent.
The Minister has arrived.
Stacey Touma and Morgan Fitzpatrick from CaFSA present the background to the newly formed organisation and the results of their recent survey. There are some mixed responses that I think you will find interesting, especially relating to the importance of choice and control (almost everyone says yes) and whether Foundational Supports should sit within the NGO sector (VERY mixed responses) . I have a copy of this and I will ask whether I can share this with you all.
Minister Shorten says that he was indeed caught up with the NDIS legislation and the PM so I mentally award myself a gold star.
He reinforces that the NDIS changes lives, acknowledges that it needs to be sorted out and raises the well-known issues with lack of provider registration requirements and cost growth.
He says that
- The NDIS shouldn’t be a cliff.
- A range of interventions need to exist outside of the Scheme – Foundational Supports.
- Evidence based supports are essential.
- The Government have recently done much work within Early Childhood including the recognition of first 1000 and 2000 days among many other things – Foundational Supports aim to build on this.
- The Government are supporting pay increases for Early Childhood workers.
- The Minister reinforces the importance of early diagnosis and intervention for best outcomes.
- A system of inclusion needs to be built outside of the NDIS.
- It’s up to us to write the next chapter; NDIS as the first chapter, Foundational Supports will be the next.
- Trying to get to 8% growth of the Scheme – changes have to be made.
- The dream is the development of a more inclusive society, early intervention for all kids at risk and quality early intervention outcomes.
Now there is an Interview (I have to take super fast notes!):
Professor Bonyhady and Minister Shorten, hosted by Emily Caska (Down Syndrome Institute)
Q: How do we get to Foundational Supports to be wow? What does it look like and what are the barriers?
Prof B: children and their families will be able to access timely support where they live and learn and play. A continuum of supports according to need. Support aligned with best practice. Challenge – systems must work well together and historically this has not been the case. A system that is integrated, governed and managed as a whole. Negotiations can be messy but we must never lose sight of the goal.
Minister: a system that enables families to be able to access to support them to what’s next. What are the options. Support is hit or miss currently, when this works well government systems will all align to give families an answer. Quality providers. Best practice. Biggest barrier, lack of ambition, lack of imagination, timidity. He says it must be politician proof. Wow.
Q: Where will the pieces such as Navigators sit structurally? What are the roles for the jurisdictions and commonwealth? Fed / state distribution?
Prof B: Current confusion around LACs, COS, Remote CCs, hard for families. Sometimes roles are conflicted. Navigators need to be independent. Role of Navigators will be super critical. Atypical development means even more important to have a no wrong door approach. Remove the importance of labels. Continuum of needs means continuum of supports. A need for National consistency wherever it’s possible.
Minister: Federal government were always supposed to fund 50% with states and territories. National Cabinet and states have agreed to pay for half of initial roll out. ($10B over 5 years). What are jurisdictional responsibilities? They have been largely forgotten and need to be highlighted.
Q: How do we get the rubber to hit the road? Nine months and 2 weeks until roll out.
Prof B: Congratulates the room for taking the initiative. Drawing on collective wisdom. How do we ensure that the voices of all, including families in designing this system? How are these supports Commissioned? How can services be Commissioned so that sharing of information and learning is encouraged and enabled? Grants programs tend to isolate programs from everything else, this is likely not the best approach? Importance of going to Government with real solutions.
Minister: Don’t wait to be asked. Be clear with solutions. Everyone agreeing on the same thing. Collaboratives and agreements are essential. Different offerings and options. Focused on outcomes for the child. Mixed messages will muffle the voice. (more on this later).
Lunch!
Quick lunch where I have managed to nail down the Minister. He suggested that the sector needs to have a collective voice on a solution. Solutions must include the private sector if we think it’s important (of course it is! Much of the skilled workforce is in the private sector.). It is not realistic to think that the sector is going to have sufficient capacity built by July 2025 which is when Foundational Supports are supposed to launch. We will be sprinting. Again.
And I’m sprinting back to the room.
Reflections after lunch
Prof Tim Moore (PRECI) and Georgie Dent (The Parenthood) discuss the basics of Foundational Supports – embedding these within the mainstream services and community. Families need to meet other families. Services meeting services so that integrated approaches can occur. Services here today have an interest in their own businesses and that’s expected (it’s nice to have that acknowledged)– but urge everyone to keep their eye on best service system for children and families at the same time.
Design time!
Small group work. We start to think about what the Foundational Supports system might look like. Unsurprisingly, most of us are on the same page. This part is super tricky because we are working without vital information from Government about what their policy positions are – so we are assuming that we are starting from scratch.
Here are some of the things that we think we need as a starting place:
- Definitions – what is it? We need this desperately to understand what Foundational Supports actually are.
- Eligibility – who is it for?
- Mapping – what’s already out there (think broadly – from post-natal care to playgroup to out of home care etc etc.)
- Fund flexibly – to suit a range of needs, demographics, geographical areas.
- Market the model – consistent messaging and narrative for families and providers.
- Capacity building – training, supervision, mentoring.
- Outcomes focused – quality not quantity as a focus.
- Human centred – of course.
- Change Management process – who will do this over the next 10 months?
- Systems alignment – state and commonwealth systems that are a continuum not as siloes.
- Governance – who, how, what?
Seriously, there is so much work to do.
Next Steps
The feeling in the room is for a National Alliance where collaboration can occur across all stakeholders. Yes, I will go my hardest to make sure that the private sector is there with everyone else. There are hands up in the room for this already. This room is full of people who want the best for children and their families and are ready to work together to make it happen.
Watch this space.
Now to get that selfie out the front for the Nacre Consulting socials before the trek home, hopefully the rain has stopped.
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