Author: ngo_support

Marguerite Hoiby is a highly experienced Registered Nurse, auditor, and consultant with extensive expertise across the health, disability, and human services sectors. She brings decades of practical and governance experience in quality, compliance, and clinical practice.

Marguerite has played a key role in developing several Aged Care and Disability courses for the NGO Training Centre, drawing on her deep knowledge of regulatory frameworks, service standards, and workforce capability requirements.

She is an experienced auditor, assessor, and technical reviewer across multiple national frameworks, including the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards, the NDIS Practice Standards (across all modules as a Lead Auditor and Technical Reviewer), Disability Employment Services, Human Services, and Quality Management Systems ISO 9001.

Marguerite’s clinical background spans general, paediatric, and operating theatre nursing, complemented by specialised expertise in spinal injuries and rehabilitation. She also holds postgraduate qualifications in business and educational administration, enabling her to bridge clinical practice with organisational governance, workforce development, and quality improvement.

Her incredible work continues to support providers across aged care, disability, and health services in strengthening quality systems, meeting regulatory standards, and delivering safe, person-centred care.

We are privileged to have Marguerite on board as our Subject Matter Expert, and we are sure you will find her course content invaluable to your organisation for both quality and compliance.

Learn more about all our brilliant Subject Matter Experts on our About Us page.

On International Women’s Day 2026, we celebrate progress.

We must also confront an uncomfortable truth: not all women experience equality in the same way.

For women with disability and women in aged care, gender inequality is compounded by ableism, ageism and systemic barriers that continue to limit autonomy, safety and voice.

In Australia, the late Stella Young powerfully challenged society’s views on disability. She rejected narratives that reduced people to objects of inspiration and instead demanded recognition of rights, leadership and agency.

Her advocacy remains deeply relevant today, particularly for women with disability whose voices are too often spoken about rather than listened to.

Women with disability are disproportionately impacted by violence, underemployment and exclusion from decision-making. Older women, particularly those in residential aged care, can experience invisibility at a time when dignity, consent and autonomy matter most.

Gender does not disappear with age. Nor does the right to self-determination.

At the NGO Training Centre, we believe that quality workforce education is one of the most practical levers for change.

If staff understand consent in the context of cognitive decline, they better protect autonomy.

If leaders understand gendered violence risk factors, they respond earlier and more effectively.

If organisations embed person-centred care and trauma-informed practice, women are safer.

Training alone does not solve inequality. But capability shapes culture. And culture shapes outcomes.

International Women’s Day must be more than a symbolic gesture or another tokenistic post. It must challenge the disability and aged care sectors to examine whether our systems truly uphold the rights of women, or whether convenience, compliance and outdated assumptions still influence practice.

The standard we set in disability and aged care environments reflects what we believe about women’s worth.

On 8 March 2026, our position is clear:

Not merely an aspiration, but the standard practice. And that is work we remain committed to every day.

How are you supporting your organisation to rise above discrimination and balance the scales?

–

Author: Amanda Robinson BA, MMHealthPrac,

As Head of Learning and Development and a seasoned NDIS expert, Amanda drives capability and sustainability in the disability and health sectors. With over 15 years of experience, post-graduate qualifications in Mental Health Leadership and Management, and currently pursuing an MBA, she brings deep expertise and personal insight as someone with lived experience of disability. A devoted carer, Amanda champions Human Rights, working to dismantle stigma and barriers for individuals with disability and mental health challenges. She is passionate about building robust stakeholder relationships, leveraging her advocacy, communication, strategic thinking, and analysis skills. 

NDIS registration audits are no longer a one-off expense you can budget around once and forget. In 2026, they are a recurring, significant, and often underestimated operational cost. How well-prepared your organisation is at audit time can mean the difference between a smooth sign-off and a costly follow-up.

Here’s what the numbers look like for most providers right now.

For higher-risk providers seeking certification, initial audit costs often start at $3,000 and can exceed $10,000, particularly where multiple sites, complex supports, or travel are involved. Then there’s the mid-term surveillance audit around the eighteen-month mark, typically costing between $1,500 and $5,000. Add in the renewal audit at the end of the registration period (budgeted at roughly the same cost as your initial audit), and it’s not uncommon for a provider to spend $15,000 to $25,000 or more across a single registration cycle. This is before accounting for any conditional or out-of-cycle audits triggered by scope expansion or identified non-conformities.

Experienced providers now treat audits as a recurring line item, not a surprise. The smartest ones go a step further: they treat training as the investment that makes every audit dollar count.

What Auditors Are Actually Looking For

NDIS auditors are assessing whether your workers have the knowledge and skills to deliver safe, high-quality, person-centred supports in line with the NDIS Practice Standards. They want to see evidence, not just intention. That means documented, completed training that is current, compliant, and traceable.

When your team can’t clearly demonstrate the evidence, non-conformities are identified. Non-conformities mean follow-up audits. Follow-up audits mean more cost.

When your team walks into an audit backed by comprehensive, standards-aligned training and clean LMS reporting, the process is faster, smoother, and less likely to generate costly remediation.

The ROI Case for Quality Online Training

Consider a mid-sized provider with 30 support workers. At NGO Training Centre, a full-suite training package can cost as little as $88 per user per year. That investment gives every worker access to over 100 NDIS-compliant courses covering everything from NDIS foundations and induction training through to complex care, medication management, and specialised skills.

Now compare that to the cost of a single follow-up audit triggered by gaps in staff training documentation: a minimum of $1,500 to $5,000. Or the reputational and operational impact of a conditional audit following an incident linked to inadequate worker knowledge.

The training pays for itself many times over. Not just in audit outcomes, but in the quality of care your workers deliver every day.

One of our clients, Care Provisions Australia, put it plainly in their review:

“The NGO training modules have significantly contributed to enhancing our integrity, credibility, and quality… I can confidently state that it has proven to be one of the best business decisions we have made.”

Another client, Sindy from Enabled Care, noted that the

“breadth and quality of the training not only met but exceeded the expectations of our NDIS auditor.“

What Makes NGO Training Centre Different

Our platform is purpose-built for NDIS and Aged Care providers who need training that performs in the real world, not just on paper.

Every course is created by sector experts, compliant with current NDIS Practice Standards, and updated regularly to reflect changes in the regulatory landscape. Our world-class Learning Management System gives administrators instant access to completion reports, competency assessments, and user progress, which is exactly the kind of clean documentation trail your auditor wants to see.

And because your workers are often on the move, our mobile app means learning happens wherever they are. On shift, between visits, or at home, all with progress saved automatically, so nothing is lost.

Over 50,000 learners and 1,000 organisations across Australia trust NGO Training Centre to keep their teams skilled, compliant, and audit-ready.

Don’t Let the Audit Find Your Gaps Before You Do

Audit costs are going up. Regulatory expectations are rising. The providers who will navigate this environment confidently are the ones who have invested in a training solution that doesn’t just tick a box but builds genuine capability across their workforce.

If you’re spending thousands on audits and hoping for the best, it’s worth asking: Is your training investment giving you the best possible return on that spend?

Explore our training packages for NDIS and Aged Care providers — or get in touch with our team to find the right solution for your organisation.

–

Author: Matthew Crawford, PGCert(Bus)

Matt has over a decade of experience in B2B sales and business development and with a passion for human services, is deeply committed to driving meaningful solutions within the disability sector. His commitment to improving service quality and his deep understanding of client needs make him a trusted partner in advancing the capabilities of organisations that support people with disability across Australia.