What is the project going to achieve?
In the wake of the report from the Aged Care Royal Commission, the role of advocacy for older people became more prominent, and this was reinforced during the COVID pandemic and its devastating impact on older people.
The Disability Royal Commission is also highlighting the vulnerability of people with disability in their communities and in some specialist service settings, focusing the need for strong independent Advocacy.
The two peak bodies representing advocacy, OPAN and the Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) agreed to work together to create a new Australian Standard specific to Advocacy for Aged Care and Disability, which can be used strengthen and continuously improve advocacy, and enable agencies to demonstrate to government departments that they are achieving outcomes for the funding they receive.
The Standard, AS 5391:2024 Advocacy in Ageing and Disability is now complete and in the process of being published. We have achieved a lot in just over the past 18 months.
Following the publication of AS 5391:2024 OPAN and DANA have been working with the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JASANZ) to develop a scheme to enable advocacy services to be certified against the requirements of the Standard. This project commenced in May 2024 and is being coordinated by Capacity Services. In June 2024 a number of online information sessions were held with advocacy service providers and people who use advocacy services, after which the first drafts of the scheme were written by JASANZ in consultation with OPAN and DANA.
The first consultation draft of the Scheme document is now complete and was submitted to a Technical Committee made up of advocacy service providers and people who use advocacy, government department officials and representatives of Certification Bodies who conduct the audits to certify advocacy services against standards. The Technical Committee considered the draft on 12 November 2024, and once its suggested amendments. External stakeholders can read or download an updated version of the draft.
OPAN and DANA, who are the Scheme owners and are driving this project, have contracted Capacity Services to conduct online consultations with advocacy service providers and people with lived experience as advocacy service users. These consultations will be offered on several occasions to make sure we are able to reach as many people as possible who may wish to comment on the Scheme draft. These will take place over 6, 2-hour online sessions between Tuesday 26 November and Tuesday 4 December, with the possibility of an additional session in the week beginning 9 December subject to demand. Two of the online sessions will be specifically targeted at people who use advocacy services.
The online consultation sessions will focus on how to comment on the draft and on the most important aspects of the Scheme draft including:
- the competencies and conduct of the Certifying Bodies who will audit the advocacy services
- how advocacy services can demonstrate how they comply with the requirements of the Advocacy Standard AS 5391:2024
- how best to ensure the views of persons using advocacy services are included in the audit process, and that those interviewed are selected fairly
- how often audits need to be conducted
- the duration and cost of audits and what certification activities can be done remotely and online.
The dates of the online sessions and links to the registration pages can be found below. Please note that all sessions will cover the same material and are open to everyone. We have scheduled two sessions (on Wednesday 27 November and Tuesday 3 December) for attendance by people who use or are likely to use Advocacy Services.
The current draft of the Advocacy Scheme is available for review >
A copy of the consultation PowerPoint slides is available here.
If you would like to provide written feedback on the Scheme document, please forward these to Michael Bleasdale at michael@capacityservices.com.au. Please use a Word document to provide details of the page and clause number of the part of the Scheme document you are making comment on. Comments need to be with Michael no later than Tuesday 10 December 2024.
Wednesday 27 November, 12:30 to 2:00pm (AEDT). Go to registration page
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm – AEDT – New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania
12:00 pm – 1:30pm – ACDT – South Australia
11:30 am – 1:00 pm – AEST – Queensland
11:00 am – 12:30 pm – ACST – Northern Territory
9:30 am – 11:00 am – AWST – Western Australia
Wednesday 27 November, 3:00 to 4:30pm (AEDT). This session is for people who use Advocacy Services and will be live captioned. Go to registration page
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm – AEDT – New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm – ACDT – South Australia
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – AEST – Queensland
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – ACST – Northern Territory
12:00 pm – 1:30 am – AWST – Western Australia
Friday 29 November, 12:30 to 2:00pm (AEDT). Go to registration page
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm – AEDT – New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania
12:00 pm – 1:30pm – ACDT – South Australia
11:30 am – 1:00 pm – AEST – Queensland
11:00 am – 12:30 pm – ACST – Northern Territory
9:30 am – 11:00 am – AWST – Western Australia
Friday 29 November, 3:00 to 4:30pm (AEDT). Go to registration page
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm – AEDT – New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm – ACDT – South Australia
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – AEST – Queensland
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – ACST – Northern Territory
12:00 pm – 1:30 am – AWST – Western Australia
Tuesday 3 December, 12:30 to 2:00pm. This session is for people who use advocacy services and will be live captioned. Go to registration page
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm – AEDT – New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania
12:00 pm – 1:30pm – ACDT – South Australia
11:30 am – 1:00 pm – AEST – Queensland
11:00 am – 12:30 pm – ACST – Northern Territory
9:30 am – 11:00 am – AWST – Western Australia
Tuesday 3 December, 3:00 to 4:30 pm. Go to registration page
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm – AEDT – New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm – ACDT – South Australia
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – AEST – Queensland
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm – ACST – Northern Territory
12:00 pm – 1:30 am – AWST – Western Australia
Contact:
Michael Bleasdale
Project Leader
michael@capacityservices.com.au
