Welcome to our first NDS in SA newsletter, which will be produced regularly with both local and national information to keep you up to date with the transformational changes in the disability sector.

It’s an exciting and daunting time in service delivery and I am hoping this newsletter will become an invaluable resource to you and your organisation. You don’t need to be a member to get this newsletter, but I hope that, with its rundown of member events and benefits, it gives you a clear idea of the value of NDS membership.  

If there is anything that you think would benefit the sector in SA, please feel free let me know and I will pass it on in this newsletter.

On our radar in SA is the introduction of the Portable Long Service Leave Bill for South Australia. It was released for consultation in December last year, while the sector was distracted by the release of both the DRC Report and the NDIS Review. NDS only became aware of the proposed legislation in January when SACOSS hosted a consultation with the community services sector. The government’s community consultation ended on 8 February. They plan to introduce the Bill into parliament soon, with registration to start in January next year. 

This legislation is being introduced at such a challenging time for the SA sector and we put our concerns in our submission. We are calling for the SA disability sector to be exempt from the legislation until a national strategy is developed around portable leave schemes. With the sector going through transformational change, the SCHADS Award still incomplete and NDIS pricing unsustainable, this legislation is one more imposition on an overburdened sector. 

NDS has been speaking with the Attorney General’s Department and will keep pushing to get our point across. We would love to hear your reaction to the Bill, especially information and analysis of how it will affect your organisation. This would give fuel to our advocacy on your behalf.  

Many of you would have seen our latest State of the Disability Sector Report, released at our Executive Leaders Conference in December. It did not paint a pretty picture. In South Australia, it showed a  stressed sector with 49 per cent of providers reporting a financial loss last year and just nine per cent breaking even. Eighty per cent of our members reported that they were not able to deliver services that had been requested. This is alarming, and gives urgency to our call for sustainable pricing and an independent pricing authority, which was recommended by the NDIS Independent Review.   

We need everyone to get behind our push for sustainable pricing by making a submission to this year’s NDIS Pricing Review before the deadline on Sunday 3 March. To help you respond to the Consultation Paper, we have developed a suite of resources, with handy links and guiding questions.  

Your submission can be as simple or as detailed as you can make it. We just want you to tell your own story about how pricing levels are affecting your organisation.  

And remember that you can always contact me on any disability sector matter.