Advocacy and policy update for 31 July 2025

WA WorkCover Advocacy win – new item for comprehensive OT reports secured

OTA has secured a win for WA members: following our ongoing advocacy, WorkCover WA will introduce a new item for comprehensive OT reports from 1 November 2025. The rate will match that of physiotherapists ($231.25/hr, indexed), with the same administrative conditions. 

We’re now seeking member feedback to support the next advocacy priority: introducing a dedicated worksite/home visit item for OTs. 

WA members: help shape our advocacy by completing our 5-minute survey

NDIS - Advocacy on the NDIS Supports lists

OTA has made a submission to the Department of Social Services’ consultation on the NDIS Support lists. The government is compiling a NDIS Rule that will replace the temporary lists that were enacted in October last year.

OTA consulted with members through a survey and worked with allied health and assistive tech stakeholders to develop our submission which calls for:

a more flexible NDIS Supports List that replaces prescriptive lists with a single exclusions list
improving training for NDIA staff on interpreting the list and allied health roles like occupational therapy
greater transparency on proposed participant classes and how they will interact with the lists
an explicit inclusion that everyday items should be funded when clinically justified
clearer public guidance and an online searchable version of the lists
that the lists better address needs of people with invisible disabilities and align with existing NDIA pricing guides.
addition of a range of additional items and services to better support people’s disability support needs

Read OTA’s submission here

NDIS travel claiming support

New travel rules took effect from 1 July 2025 that only enable claiming for 50% of the hourly rate for travel. OTA has published a list of FAQs to support OTs to correctly claim for travel under the new rules. Find more information on our FAQ page

NDIA has also published some more information on travel claiming for providers

Aged Care – Amending Legislation Introduced to Parliament

The Government introduced the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 (ACOLA Bill) to Parliament on 24 July. The Legislation Amendment Bill makes amendments to the Act to support its implementation on 1 November.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has released a summary of the changes it has made to the new Aged Care Rules, based on its consultations.

Key changes include:

allied health professionals now being referred to as practitioners and the decision to include practitioners who are regulated by the professional bodies they are registered with (Chapter 1, Part 2 – Definitions)
removal of the hourly caps on house cleaning and gardening services, and amendment to the Aged Care Service List to enable “a new set of services within the assistive technology service types,” which in turn enables access to the Assistive Technology Loan scheme.
clarification has also been made that the list of allied health professionals included on the Aged Care Service List is not an exhaustive list of Assistive Technology and Home Modifications prescribers, following criticism including the exclusion of orthotists and osteopaths.

OTA welcomes these changes, which are among the many issues we identified in our submissions on the Draft Rules. However, we will not be able to ascertain to what extent our recommendations and concerns have been incorporated into the new version of the Rules until their release, expected by early August.

You can access the Summary of Key Changes document here

WorkCover Queensland – Allied Health Services Table of Costs Update

WorkCover Queensland has finalised the annual update of the Allied Health Services Table of Costs for 2025–26. The updated fees take effect from 1 August 2025 and are now available on the WorkCover website here.