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Some people know aged care from the inside out, and Stephanie Watts is one of them. She is a registered nurse with more than 20 years in the sector, and over that time she has seen it from just about every angle: as a clinician, a regulator, a consultant, and a trainer.

That regulator experience is a big part of what makes her so valuable to us. Stephanie worked with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission as a Quality Assessor, so she knows exactly how audits are run and what compliance really looks like on the ground, not just on paper. As a consultant, she has helped providers make sure their training in the Aged Care Quality Standards is actually delivered, understood, implemented, measured, and monitored, and that everyone understands their obligations under the Act.

Her hands-on work is just as broad. She has mentored providers, coached teams, and built training programs for community care providers, residential aged care facilities, staff, consumers, and community groups. Along the way she has worked across ACFI funding, auditing and resource placement, continuous quality improvement, the Aged Care Quality Standards, documentation and evaluation, and even helping providers find opportunities to lift revenue. More recently, she completed AN-ACC training and carried out AN-ACC assessments for the Department of Health and Aged Care through APM.

What ties all of this together is the way Stephanie works with people. She is a natural leader who builds strong, lasting relationships with clients and has a gift for helping others do their best work. That is exactly why her courses feel so practical and so easy to trust: they come from someone who has genuinely done the job. Stephanie has written some of our most important aged care courses, each one mapped to the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards.

Courses Shaped by Steph’s Expertise:

More about these courses:

• The Strengthened Aged Care Standards, Parts 1 & 2: the seven strengthened Standards and what providers must do to comply.
• Preventing and Responding to Elder Abuse: recognising, preventing, and responding to the abuse of older people.
• Understanding Choice, Independence and Quality of Life: supporting dignity, autonomy, and genuine consumer choice.
• Incident Management and Reporting: SIRS: managing incidents and meeting Serious Incident Response Scheme obligations.
• Person-Centred Care: putting the individual at the centre of care planning and delivery.
• Infection Prevention Control and Outbreak Management, Parts 1 & 2: preventing the spread of infection and managing outbreaks in care settings – coming soon.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship: using antimicrobials responsibly to help reduce resistance.

So, when you complete one of Stephanie’s courses, you are learning from someone who has assessed providers against the Standards, guided organisations through compliance, and trained the people who deliver care every single day.

Plus, to get to know Steph’s incredible expertise and hear her advice for providers covering audit compliance and training requirements in our recent Q&A video below:

We could not be prouder to celebrate Stephanie Watts as one of our exceptional Subject Matter Experts!

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

There’s less time than the calendar suggests…

Somewhere in Australia right now there is a person sitting in their home office with a laptop open and a cup of coffee going cold beside it. They have an ABN. They have a logo they built at eleven o’clock one night. They have a folder of policies they found from a template, downloaded, lightly skimmed, mostly believed. They have 10 support staff actively supporting participants accessing the scheme, and demand just keeps growing. They think the hard part is behind them.

It is not. But the work is learnable, and they have a little time – though less than the calendar might suggest.

In December 2025, the Minister for the NDIS confirmed that supported independent living (SIL) providers and platform providers must register with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. That requirement starts on 1 July 2026. From that date, SIL and the relevant digital platforms move from “register if you feel like it” to “register, full stop”.

Now the part everyone wants pinned down: how long do you have?

The honest answer is that the Commission has not locked the final transition end date. Providers already delivering SIL without registration will not need to be fully registered on the morning of 1 July 2026. There is a transition period, and the Commission has said it will hand down the staged arrangements and further guidance as they are confirmed.

That sounds generous. It’s really not, and here’s why.

SIL sits on the Certification pathway. That means a two-stage audit – a documentation review, then an on-site audit against the NDIS Practice Standards, including the new SIL-specific standards. From start to finish, Certification takes eight to twelve months for a provider who is organised and arrives without major problems. Auditors are a finite resource. Every provider racing the same deadline lines up in the same queue, and the queue only tightens as the date gets closer.

So, the real answer to “how long do I have?” is not “until the transition ends”. It is “long enough, if you start now and not long at all, if you wait.”

A note for everyone reading this from the sidelines: certain it does not apply to them. In April 2026, the government made another HUGE announcement. It announced that mandatory registration will expand to cover personal care, daily living supports, and supports delivered in closed settings, with the expansion expected to commence from July 2027, with details still to be confirmed. If you deliver one of those supports, your turn is coming, and the same arithmetic applies.

The part that catches most providers out

The piece of this that trips up good providers is the self-assessment.

When you apply, you assess your own organisation against the NDIS Practice Standards. In writing. With evidence behind every claim. This is where capable services come unstuck, not because the support they deliver is poor, but because nobody has shown them what a quality response looks like or what evidence the Commission expects to see beneath it. Nearly one in four registration applications were rejected in a single year. A common reason was generic, template-style responses. There is a task force whose job is to spot exactly that.

A rejection is not a gentle tap on the wrist. It can stall the services you wanted to deliver, cost real money in fees and reapplication, and tarnish a reputation you have only just started building.

What the NGO Training Centre can offer

The NDIS Practice Standards are made up of a core module and a set of supplementary modules that apply depending on what you deliver.

Our NDIS Self-Assessment Preparation Courses are built the same way, so you pick only the ones relevant to your registration. Each course explains what the standard actually requires, shows you what a strong response reads like, and tells you the kind of evidence you need to support it. They run between twenty and sixty minutes, on a computer, tablet or phone, whenever it suits you.

They are built for people applying for the first time, for registered providers preparing for audit, and for practitioner roles such as behaviour support practitioners.

If you want to understand the shape of the thing before you spend a cent, start with the free introductory course. It walks through the registration application process, and what the self-assessment involves, so you go in knowing the terrain rather than guessing at it.

An auditor, Marguerite Hoiby, put it clearly in her review below. When the people who audit you say the preparation is worth doing, that is worth a pause.

A SIL module is on the way

For the providers reading this with 1 July 2026 already circled, a dedicated SIL module is in the works and will be released in the near future, built around the new SIL-specific Practice Standards.

If SIL is your world, keep an eye out for it here on our website.

What next?

Getting registered is the start. Staying registered means staying compliant, and compliance was never a one-person job. I strongly advise you to outsource your training to ensure your staff receive the most up-to-date training and easily accessible evidence that auditors just froth over.

Our full course suite is built so the whole organisation stays trained and compliant across the areas it actually services. This ranges from frontline staff and management all the way to the board. Audit readiness is not a sprint at a deadline. It should be the norm. If you are a regular reader of my articles, you may remember one of my previous pieces in which I mention my own mantra as a former Quality Assurance Manager for a Disability Advocacy Organisation: ‘ARFA’, or ‘Always Ready For Audit’.

Which brings us back to the kitchen table, and the coffee that is now ice-cold.

The person sitting there was never going to be undone by the ‘work’. They were only ever at risk of being surprised by it. Surprise is the expensive part. Preparation is the cheap one.

Be ahead of the game. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

It’s my best piece of advice for you.

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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. 

Until Everyone Is Safe – Including the Ones We Forget to Count

World Refugee Day falls on 20 June 2026, and 2026 marks seventy-five years since the world adopted the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Born from the ruins of war, that promise was never meant for one region, one generation or one people. It was meant for humanity as a whole. People forced to flee should not be returned to danger, and they should be able to live in dignity while they are displaced.

That safeguard is needed now more than it has been in a long while. More than 117 million people are forcibly displaced across the world, families uprooted by war in the Sudan, by violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, by the long crises in Ukraine, Afghanistan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Myanmar and beyond.

When people fleeing danger are refused protection, the harm does not stay still. Families are pushed onto more perilous routes. Children lose years of learning they never get back. Women and girls face greater risk. Host communities are left holding need without the support to meet it.

Protecting refugees is an act of compassion, yes. It is also a condition for stability and peace, which is less sentimental and more just as true.

This year’s theme is: Until Everyone Is Safe.

When I was leading advocacy work into the Disability Royal Commission, the government set us a target. Thirteen per cent. That was the share of our engagement across the Disability community to tell their stories and share their experiences in our community. We committed to reaching out among culturally and linguistically diverse communities, I guess because the government decided that if you do not name a number, the number quietly becomes zero.

It was still not enough. Reaching it was hard. It was hard for reasons that should embarrass a country as wealthy as this one. The Commission’s own findings spelled it out. People from CALD backgrounds face severe barriers navigating the NDIS, and it called for simpler access pathways and services that actually meet people where their language and culture sit. It urged that disability and rights information be available in many languages, not one. It urged organisations to employ people with disabilities from CALD backgrounds and to seat them on boards and advisory groups where decisions are made, not just in the consultation that is merely tokenistic.

It pointed to the place where the harm concentrates. The risk that lands on women, on children, on people who arrive carrying more than one reason to be turned away. Refugee, person with disability, woman, child, all at once, in one human being who is simply trying to seek help and support.

This is the part of the work we can do something about. At the NGO Training Centre, we provide a Cultural Awareness course for disability staff. It challenges your thinking about cultural awareness and translates that thinking into how you can best support people in the community who have experienced refugee status.

Our aged care courses are coming soon: Cultural Awareness and CALD Support, built so that workers understand the CALD community and refugees well enough to keep them safe from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and not as another tick box on a compliance form.

Whilst we are just one access point in the network of resources, there is a vast array of support available for Refugees and the CALD community here in Australia. Know what’s out there because until everyone is safe, the work is not done. Everyone, including the ones we keep forgetting to count.

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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. 

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Aged Care and Disability Expo in Bendigo, VIC – a vibrant, full-day event of connection held from 9 AM to 3 PM at the Red Energy Arena.

It was wonderful to see such a diverse array of providers come together, each doing their part to ensure that individuals accessing aged care and disability support receive the care and respect they deserve. The energy across the room reflected exactly what these events are about: empowerment, education and community.

Connecting with our customers

A real highlight of my day was the chance to meet face-to-face with our customers, Your Care and Empire South, and to see firsthand the wonderful work they are doing in the community. Conversations like these are a reminder of the genuine impact happening on the ground every day.

I also took the opportunity to gather feedback and insights from across the sector, listening closely to providers’ approaches, the challenges they are navigating, the opportunities ahead, and the barriers emerging from the recent reforms to both aged care and disability support. These perspectives are invaluable as we continue to learn alongside the people and organisations we work with.

More than an expo

The day offered far more than a chance to browse the latest products, services and technologies designed to enhance the lives of individuals with disability and those accessing aged care. Informative seminars and interactive workshops created space to learn, engage and celebrate the diverse abilities within our community.

The Aged and Disability Expo is dedicated to connecting individuals, families and carers with the right resources and support networks. With a wide variety of exhibitors and engaging activities, these expos foster a welcoming environment where everyone can find solutions tailored to their unique needs. A big thank you to the organisers, exhibitors and everyone who made today such a meaningful occasion. I left informed, inspired and more connected to the community I am proud to serve.

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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. 

Meet one of the experts behind our Aged Care suite: Thirty years of nursing, leadership and dementia care expertise, built into every course.

Behind every great training course is someone who has lived the work. For our Aged Care Suite, that person is Lusie Glogovac, a Registered Nurse with more than 30 years of experience in the Aged Care sector and the Subject Matter Expert behind our courses.

Lusie’s career spans nearly every corner of aged care: nursing in residential facilities, quality improvement projects, clinical care and operational management. She understands the pressures care staff face mid-shift, as well as the compliance obligations on a manager’s desk. That dual perspective makes her course content practical and aligned with what providers are accountable for.

Lusie is passionate about ensuring people living with dementia can live the best life they can. Her approach starts with seeing the person, not the diagnosis. She empowers and mentors staff to focus on the individual and support them in whatever they wish to do, putting choice, dignity and identity at the centre of care. That thinking runs through the entire Aged Care Suite.

As an independent consultant, Lusie was recently involved in the roll-out and implementation of the new Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards. She knows what the Standards ask of providers because she has helped organisations put them into practice. Your teams’ training reflects the sector as it is today.

Courses Shaped by Lusie’s Expertise:

Training only changes practice when it is grounded in reality. With Lusie as Subject Matter Expert, providers can be confident their teams are learning from someone who has done the work, led the work and helped shape the standards that now govern it.

Connect with Lusie: Lusie Glogovac, Registered Nurse, Aged Care Consultant at L.Glogovac Consulting Service

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

June is Pride Month, and it is a moment worth pausing on.

This is the month we remember the birth of the global movement for LGBTIQASB+ equality, and the Pride marches that grew out of the 1969 Stonewall riots. Around the world, events like the Sydney Pride Festival now run throughout June to lift up voices, celebrate culture, and protect the human rights of LGBTIQASB+ communities. It is a time to raise awareness and to remember the pioneers who fought for equality, even when doing so put their own safety and freedom at real risk.

It also feels like the right time to talk about care, because the people who built that movement are ageing, and many of them rely on disability and aged care services today.

So, we want to share two courses we are proud of.

For disability support professionals

Our disability course teaches you how to provide person-centred, gender-affirming support for LGBTIQASB+ participants. You will discover what the term LGBTIQASB+ represents, where the acronym comes from, and why language and specific terminology matter so much. Using the Genderbread Unicorn analogy, we break down gender identity and expression, along with related ideas like sex assigned at birth and attraction. We also explore intersectionality and how it shapes the way LGBTIQASB+ participants access important social and medical supports. Finally, you will learn how Disability Support Professionals can help participants connect and feel included within both their LGBTIQASB+ and their disability communities.

We were lucky enough to work with Daniel Witthaus, Founder and CEO of Rural Pride Australia, to build this course, and we are very glad we did.

Daniel has spent 28 years challenging homophobia and growing LGBTIQA+ inclusion one cuppa at a time, in schools, rural communities, and occasionally in countries like Poland, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. His work spans Kids Helpline, VicHealth, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, and No to Violence, a national men’s family violence organisation. For the last eight years, Rural Pride Australia has partnered with the Victorian State Government and its Commissioners for LGBTIQ+ Communities to deliver the LGBTIQ+ Equality Roadshow, Regional Communities of Practice, and the Rainbow Ready Roadmap across 29 regional and rural Victorian communities. We feel privileged to have such a knowledgeable human as our subject matter expert.

For aged care staff

Our aged care course was crafted by Brooke Dunn, a Perth-based educator and advocate working at the intersection of peer support and inclusive training. Brooke works part-time in Education and Peer Support with Queer and Diverse Pathways Pty Ltd, and serves as a Training Facilitator with TransFolk of WA, where she delivers training on gender diversity. Through both roles, she is committed to building understanding, inclusion, and safer spaces for LGBTIQA+ communities.

The course gives aged care staff the language, knowledge, and practical skills to provide genuinely inclusive care. It builds the foundations of inclusive language and terminology, unpacks the difference between sex, gender and sexual orientation along with common myths, and explores the lived experiences of ageing LGBTIQASB+ people, from identity harm and social isolation to discrimination, health concerns and trauma. By understanding how histories of stigma, criminalisation and exclusion have eroded trust in aged care, staff learn why compassion, cultural safety, and awareness matter so much. The course then finishes with concrete strategies for delivering inclusive, trauma-informed, rights-based care. The result is a team that feels more confident, and a service where every older person feels they belong.

This course will be released very soon! Stay tuned!

Make this Pride Month count!

This June, you can gain the understanding, awareness, and allyship to better support the people in your care. Use the buttons above to access our courses, and see further resources below:

🌈 Support and peer resources

• QLife: Call 1800 184 527 (3:00 PM to 9:00 PM daily) for anonymous, free, Australia-wide LGBTIQ+ peer support and referral.
• Queerspace: Specialised LGBTIQ+ health and wellbeing services, plus family support. Visit the website.
• Lifeline: Available 24/7. Call 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14, or visit www.lifeline.org.au for online chat and self-management resources.

⚖️ Advocacy

Equality Australia: For information, resources, and to support community protections and legislative advocacy, visit Equality Australia.

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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. 

There’s a lot happening in the world right now. Oil prices are volatile, global supply chains are under pressure, and uncertainty from the Middle East is making every business owner think harder about where their money goes and how resilient their operation really is.

Smart leaders in the disability sector are responding the same way smart leaders always do in uncertain times: they double down on their people.

Turn Training Costs into Tax Wins

When economic conditions get choppy, the organisations that come out ahead are the ones that use every available advantage. Right now, one of the clearest advantages available to you is sitting right there in the tax calendar.

Investing in NGO Training Centre’s NDIS-compliant and My Aged Care-compliant online courses before June 30th isn’t just good workforce development; it’s a legitimate, ATO-recognised business expense that reduces your tax bill. Instead of surrendering extra dollars at the end of a financially uncertain year, you could be channelling that money into the one thing no global crisis can take from you: a skilled, confident team. Chat with your accountant to make sure you’re ticking all the right boxes.

Built for Uncertain Times

Here’s the thing about unpredictable environments: they expose weak foundations fast. Audits don’t pause because the world is distracted, and spot checks are only becoming more frequent. The “we’ll deal with it later” approach to compliance training is a gamble no provider should be taking right now.

NGO Training Centre’s platform offers more than 100 courses meticulously aligned with the NDIS Practice Standards and Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards. When auditors come knocking, you’ll have comprehensive training records, confident staff, and zero scrambling. That kind of readiness isn’t luck. It’s a choice you make before the pressure hits.

Flexibility That Works in the Real World

Nobody has time to waste right now. Support workers are busy, margins are tighter, and every hour counts. That’s exactly why online microlearning makes sense. 30-minute modules your team can complete between clients, on their phones, on their own schedule.

No travel costs. No venue hire. No catering bills. The platform has already saved organisations thousands of hours and dollars, and in a year where every dollar and every hour matters more than usual, that’s a huge boost.

Train Smarter, Not Longer: Introducing NGO Xpress

Here’s where the value proposition of training with NGO Training Centre gets even stronger. The newly launched NGO Xpress suite uses adaptive learning technology to assess what your experienced staff already know, and fast-tracks them past it. Most seasoned support workers complete their compliance modules in just 5 to 10 minutes, rather than the standard 45 minutes, without any reduction in compliance outcomes, certificate validity, or audit readiness. For an organisation with 10 experienced staff completing 10 Xpress courses each, that translates to over $2,000 in recovered labour costs. Savings that compound every single compliance cycle, year after year, with no additional investment required. NGO Xpress courses are already included across all NGO Training Centre Disability Support, Aged Care, and Combined Sector training packages at no extra cost.

You can learn more about how NGO Xpress can save your business thousands of dollars here.

Your People Are Your Most Stable Asset

When global markets are rattled, and economic forecasts are murky, one investment consistently holds its value: your team. NGO Training Centre’s 93% engagement rate and 90% completion rate across over 50,000 learners tells you something important. People respond when they feel genuinely invested in.

Lower turnover, better service delivery, higher job satisfaction. In a sector where great staff are genuinely hard to find, building a culture of learning is one of the smartest things you can do. Regardless of what’s happening on the world stage.

As Zig Ziglar put it: “You don’t build a business; you build people, and then people build the business.”

The Window Is Open. Don’t Wait for It to Close.

June 30th is approaching, and the financial year waits for no one. Once that date passes, you’ll be waiting another 12 months for this tax advantage. In a year already marked by uncertainty and rising costs, that is not a delay you can afford.

The organisations that come through uncertain periods strongest are not the ones that froze. They are the ones that invested wisely, built capable teams, and made decisions with clarity while others hesitated.

This is your window. The tax savings are real. The compliance protection is real. The cost advantages of online, flexible training are real, and in 2026, more relevant than ever.

Don’t spend another financial year wondering “what if.” Make this the year you turn training expenses into tax savings, compliance exposure into audit confidence, and global uncertainty into a reason to build the strongest team you’ve ever had.

Click here to request a demo or a free trial, or call our friendly Customer Relationship team on 1300 990 995.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. While we highlight potential tax benefits of investing in training, you should consult with a qualified accountant or tax professional to ensure any decisions align with your specific financial circumstances and comply with Australian Taxation Office (ATO) regulations.

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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 and aged care sectors. 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 ageing individuals and people with disability across Australia.

If you deliver NDIS supports, change is coming, and for one group of providers, it’s coming fast.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is reforming the NDIS Practice Standards: the quality and safety benchmarks every registered provider must meet. At their heart, these standards exist so participants can shape how safe, quality supports are delivered to them. The reform is being driven by two parallel projects: a brand-new set of Practice Standards for supported independent living (SIL), and a broader review of the Practice Standards as a whole.

Here’s what each means for your organisation.

The headline: new SIL Practice Standards and mandatory registration

If you provide SIL supports, this is the part to read carefully.

In December 2025, the Minister for the NDIS announced that SIL providers must register from 1^st July 2026 and comply with new NDIS Practice Standards for supported independent living. With that date now just weeks away, the window to prepare is short.

The reform didn’t appear from nowhere. Recent reviews and the NDIS Commission’s Own Motion Inquiry into Aspects of Supported Accommodation (OMI) surfaced real risks in supported independent living. Those risks were raised by participants, their supporters, advocates and the Commission itself.

Importantly, the new standards were co-designed. The Commission worked with Inclusion Australia and people with disability to develop them, so participant voices sit at the core of the new module rather than being added on afterwards.

What’s actually changing for SIL providers

A few practical points:

• From 1^st July 2026, providers of supported independent living supports will need to comply with the new SIL Practice Standards.
• The new standards focus on quality and safety in shared accommodation with daily supports; and on giving clearer, more usable guidance to frontline workers.
• The Commission has released the draft supported independent living Practice Standards module so you can see what’s proposed.
• There’s also an Easy Read factsheet — “Supported independent living: New rules for good and safe support” to help participants and supporters understand the changes.

For the registration detail, including what the transition looks like, you can start here:

• Mandatory registration
• Mandatory registration and transition pathways for supported independent living

The final SIL Practice Standards will be published on the NDIS Practice Standards page before 1^st July 2026, so it’s worth bookmarking that page now.

The bigger picture: the NDIS Practice Standards Review

Alongside the SIL work, the Commission ran a national consultation to support a wider review of the Practice Standards.

That consultation asked some foundational questions: whether current obligations are appropriate and genuinely focused on what matters, what an NDIS Quality Framework should look like, and how guidance can better support safe, high-quality, participant-centred supports. The Commission is now working through the feedback, insights and recommendations to shape the next steps.

This isn’t separate from the SIL changes; it directly informed them. The consultation led to the introduction of Expectation Statements, which set out the perspectives of participants, workers and providers, along with guidance material that spells out what “good” actually looks like in practice. Expect this approach: clearer expectations, plainer guidance to flow through future reform.

What providers should do now.

If you deliver SIL supports, treat 1^st July 2026 as a live deadline:

1. Read the draft module and map it against how you currently operate and identify the gaps now, not in July.
2. Confirm your registration pathway using the mandatory registration links above.
3. Brief your frontline teams early; much of the new standard is aimed squarely at day-to-day support quality.
4. Share the Easy Read factsheet with participants and their supporters so the change is understood on all sides.
5. Watch the Practice Standards page for the final version ahead of the deadline.

For providers outside SIL, the broader review signals the direction of travel: clearer expectations, stronger guidance, and standards that keep participants at the centre. Getting familiar with that thinking now will make whatever comes next far easier to absorb.

We’ll keep you updated on any changes. If you’re a new provider, pending renewal, or unregistered and need help to get registered, we’re here to support you.

We have a suite of courses to assist you with your Online NDIS Self-assessment, to get you started and to help you understand your requirements for application and audit.

We even offer a FREE Introductory course to kick off your registration journey.

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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. 

I am located on the traditional lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung and the Taungurung Peoples of the Kulin Nation. They are the traditional custodians of this land. I would like to pay my respects to Elders, past, present, and emerging.

From 27 May to 3 June each year, Australians come together to recognise and reflect during National Reconciliation Week 2026. It is a significant time to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, while considering how we can all contribute to reconciliation in meaningful ways.

The 2026 theme, All In, is a powerful reminder that reconciliation is everyone’s responsibility. It calls on all Australians to move beyond awareness alone and actively contribute to positive change every day through our workplaces, communities, services and conversations. As highlighted by Reconciliation Australia, reconciliation is not a passive activity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have carried the emotional and cultural labour of advocating for equality and understanding for generations. The All In theme encourages all Australians to stand alongside First Nations peoples and commit to listening, learning and taking action together.

I have been on a steep learning journey since my professional career began in 2010. Without giving away my age, school and community education around First Nations Peoples was vastly different from what it is today. My eyes have been well and truly opened by education, seeking the truth, listening, and learning from incredible mentors along the way.

In my advocacy and support roles, including supporting the voices of First Nations People to be heard in the recent Disability Royal Commission, I had the privilege of working alongside a First Nations Elder who taught me so much about First Nations culture, unconscious bias, and the importance of cultural connection and culturally safe, respectful care. He shared his lived experience of being raised in an institution, and of racism and segregation. Ultimately, he guided me, but I took it upon myself to learn, research, and discover the truth about the history and the current barriers that First Nations Peoples still face today.

This is such an important part of reconciliation as it is not the sole responsibility of First Nations people to educate, explain and act; they have been doing this for far too long.

I wanted to share this knowledge and experience, so we engaged a subject matter expert and an Elder to share their lived and living experiences and to create an engaging and accessible course for all aged care staff supporting Elders. We are proud to offer our course ‘Supporting First Nations Elders‘ which is designed to educate disability and aged care workers in delivering compassionate, informed and culturally responsive care to First Nations Elders.

One of the most meaningful aspects of our aged care course is hearing directly from Elder, Monica, who currently resides in an Elder Facility in Shepparton, VIC. I had the privilege of being invited into Monica’s home, where she shared her story and the incredible impact she is having in the community through her support for cultural connection and her involvement in First Nations celebrations and activities across regional Victoria.

Monica generously shared parts of her personal story, experiences and reflections on growing up as a proud Aboriginal woman and what culturally respectful care looks like in our ‘Voice of Experience’ video segment in our aged care course. Her voice provides learners with valuable insight into the lived experiences, resilience, culture and identity of First Nations peoples.

Here is an insightful snippet of my conversation with Monica – the full version of Monica’s video is available in our ‘Supporting First Nations Elders‘ course:

Through our training, we aim to strengthen understanding and confidence for those providing care to First Nations Elders, and we provide learning outcomes such as:

• Discussing First Nations cultures, including the diversity of histories, languages and traditions across communities
• Understanding the historical background of First Nations peoples and the enduring impacts this has had on health and wellbeing
• Demonstrating culturally safe and respectful care practices for First Nations Elders, and
• Practising culturally safe communication that supports dignity, connection and trust. We also provide a broad range of additional learning resources to support ongoing education and reflection for workers across the aged care sector.

For many First Nations Elders, culture, Country, family and community are deeply connected to health and wellbeing. Delivering culturally safe care means recognising and respecting these connections while ensuring Elders feel heard, valued and understood.

National Reconciliation Week is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on how we can contribute to a more inclusive and respectful Australia, not just during one week of the year, but every single day.

Join us to celebrate National Reconciliation Week.

Because reconciliation is not about standing on the sidelines.

It is about being All In.

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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. 

In the coming months, providers will face the reality that what was once a ‘nice to have’ is now being mandated by the NDIA Quality and Safeguards Commission following Mark Butler’s announcement on the 22^nd April 2026 at the National Press Club.

So, thanks to those providers who have done the wrong thing, everyone must now deal with the consequences of this fraudulent activity. It sounds like the military, right? I am far too familiar with this kind of collective punishment. Unfortunately, the government has decided that providers were given the opportunity to do the right thing, and some took full advantage of their flexibility.

I saw this coming. After leading the Disability Royal Commission advocacy services in regional Victoria in 2019-2023, I heard story after story of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability by services that they entrusted with their lives. You’ve heard it on the news and across the sector. It’s wrong, and it needed to change. This is certainly not the complete solution, we all know that, but it’s a step in the right direction. Another notch in the very long NDIS belt – Providing oversight and accountability.

We are still unsure of how this will actually look on the ground for smaller providers. I am very sure, though, that everyone will require some kind of registration. We saw this coming from the NDIS Review and the Disability Royal Commission recommendations, so no one is really that surprised by this announcement.

But it’s not all bad news, especially for those who are doing the right thing.

There are some significant advantages to becoming a registered provider. We will go through these first, then discuss some of the challenges that providers may face, and who knows… we might even have some solutions for you!

Being a registered NDIS provider has some real perks. For starters, it allows you to work with agency-managed participants, giving you access to a bigger and more diverse group of clients. It also boosts your credibility, increases your visibility on the NDIS Provider Finder, and ensures a steady income stream through direct payments from the NDIA.

Here are some key advantages of becoming registered:

• Access to more Participants: as a registered provider, you can work with participants regardless of the way their plan is managed. You can now access NDIS-managed participants, which you couldn’t do as an unregistered provider. You can also work with participants who require higher-risk supports, such as behavioural support and SDA.
• Increased Trust, Visibility and Credibility: As a registered provider, you are deemed to be in strict compliance with the NDIS Practice Standards and are audited regularly. This gives you opportunities to improve your services and ensure that you continue to do the right thing. Gotta love that continuous improvement cycle! (I did when I was a Quality Assurance Manager at a not-for-profit). You will also be listed as a registered provider with the NDIA, making it easier for participants to search and find you! Saves on that marketing bill, too, right?
• Direct payments and improved cash flow: No more waiting for payments long after a service has been delivered! You can claim payments directly through the provider portal, making the whole process a LOT easier and more efficient for your business.

These are just some of the advantages of being a registered provider.

Alas, we all know that with the pros come the cons.

I have heard a lot of noise since the announcement and witnessed much angst and fear, particularly among smaller providers in thin markets. In those small, remote towns, providers who are struggling to rub two pennies together now need to fork out thousands of dollars, slog through endless paperwork, and provide detailed evidence of the great work they are doing.

They need to be fully compliant with all the NDIS Practice Standards and ensure that their staff are trained accordingly. I don’t want to toot our own horn, but as I said earlier, we saw this coming. We know that providers cannot all afford to obtain specialised advice from boutique NDIS Consultants or to fund high-priced face-to-face training providers, let alone track their training compliance in preparation for their audits.

This is where the NGO Training Centre comes in.

We took action. First, we joined forces with the compliance experts at Provider Institute Australia last year and created a series of short courses that provide step-by-step guidance to help providers complete the NDIS Online self-assessment application for each module of the NDIS Practice Standards.

If you’re not already in the loop, the NDIS online self-assessment is a mandatory part of registering or renewing your service provider registration. It’s a digital process that checks how well your policies align with NDIS Practice Standards. Basically, it helps you spot where you might need to improve and get you ready for registration and audits.

We hope to assist as many providers as possible to ensure that participants continue to access the vital supports they need to live the lives they deserve, because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.

Get the guidance you need to succeed.

Start today with our FREE NDIS Self-Assessment Introductory Course.

Then, complete the supplementary courses relevant to your registration, and you’ll be well on your way to NDIS Registration!

Not ONLY do we provide these great courses, but we also have over 100 disability-specific, fully NDIS-compliant microlearning courses you can access starting at only $29 per staff member per year. All providers, including Allied Health and Support Coordinators, can also access our bundles or pathways that can be purchased online if you need very specific training or to fill any gaps in your current training.

You can talk to us about all of your options by contacting our friendly and supportive team using the form below, or at 1300 990 995.

We want to ensure that you are not left behind when these changes are implemented. The disability community needs you!

–

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.