Purpose of the consultation 

The Department of Health, Disability, and Ageing (the Department) engaged Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) to consult with the advocacy sector to test the Department’s first iteration of options for future arrangements under a new Commonwealth individual disability advocacy program (‘new program’).  

DANA’s role  

DANA contributed to the development of framing, questions and pre-reading material for the consultations and online survey in consultation with the Department. DANA noted during this process that some of the ideas, concepts or questions were not ones DANA proposed or endorsed as an organisation. 

Although the final consultation report contains strong themes and perspectives in common with DANA’s previous engagement with the sector and recommendations made in past submissions about the future of advocacy, the report does do not necessarily reflect DANA’s own position on these questions and topics. DANA will provide a submission to the Department separately as part of the Department’s upcoming consultation process.    

Who was consulted 

In accordance with the Department’s requirements, DANA engaged with the following groups: 

• Advocates employed by, and executive staff leading, all current National Disability Advocacy Program (NDAP) providers and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Appeals Program, Disability Advocacy Support Helpline (DASH), and Indigenous Community Advocates Pilot (ICAP); 

• Advocates employed by, and executive staff leading, First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN); and 

• Advocates employed by, and executive staff leading, at minimum two disability advocacy providers in each state or territory who are not currently NDAP providers. 

Consultation engagement 

Engagement with consultation participants occurred through online workshops (generally 2 hours long) and by optional online survey. Throughout August and the beginning of September 2025, 17 group workshops and five dedicated (one organisation) workshops were conducted.  

A total of 112 people, representing 75 organisations participated in the workshops. Further, 15 people responded to the online survey, representing 13 organisations. In total, this represented 76 unique organisations.  

Reporting to the Department 

In late September 2025, the draft consultation report was circulated to all individuals and organisations that took part in the consultations to provide the opportunity to ensure input was accurately reported. Participants had two weeks to respond with feedback. 22 responses were received. 

The final consultation report captures the collective viewpoints from attendees and survey respondents during consultations. As a summary, it cannot comprehensively include all viewpoints expressed throughout. However, it indicates where there are areas of strong agreement and identifies points where there are differing perspectives.  

Overall themes and perspectives  

Overall themes and perspectives on the new program are on pages 5-9 of the final report.  

These focus on: 

• Funding and stability  
• Independence, governance, and lived experience 
• Scope and framing of advocacy 
• Models, diversity and specialisation of advocacy 
• Unmet demand versus unmet need 
• Pathways and coordination of advocacy 
• Workforce capability and professionalisation 
• Rights-based, person-centred, and culturally safe practice 
• Areas of divergence or caution amongst the consultation participants 

Next steps 

DANA’s policy team has commenced developing clear recommendations and a submission intended to influence the design of the new program, building on extensive engagement with the sector over the last several years.   

There will be further opportunities for consultation and input before the new advocacy program is implemented by the Department, and we understand that plans will be announced soon.  

If you wish to provide additional information or perspectives to the Department in the meantime, the email address for the general mailbox for NDAP and NDIS Appeals program enquiries is disabilityadvocacy@health.gov.au.