The report highlights the urgent need to address inequities in developmental health services for rural and remote children-communities that face significant barriers to equity and inclusion, compounded by chronic workforce shortages and growing complexity in children’s needs.
Recommendations Most Relevant to Our Mission
- Co-design and evidence-based policy: Embedding lived experience in leadership and decision-making is critical to ensuring services meet the needs of families and communities.
- Telehealth and technology investment: Funding improvements to technology will increase access to care in areas where workforce shortages make face-to-face services difficult. Telehealth is an essential component of RFW’s service delivery model.
- Multidisciplinary teams and hub-and-spoke models: The report recognises the importance of integrated care. RFW already delivers a multidisciplinary hub-and-spoke model through its Schools and Early Years program, supporting children in 150 communities across four states
- Block funding for rural and remote areas: Consistent long-term funding is vital to guarantee workforce retention and ensure continuity of care.
- Schools and early learning centres are rightly positioned as hubs for developmental support, but parents and carers must remain central to the process.
Thriving Kids Initiative
The Federal Government announced the Thriving Kids initiative last year, committing $2 billion over five years from 1 July 2026. This program will focus on early identification of developmental concerns and create a national system of supports for children aged eight and under with mild to moderate developmental delay and autism. The final design will be informed by experts and community voices, including First Nations, CALD, and rural communities.
Latest AEDC data shows 60% of children in remote areas are not developmentally on track to start school and emotional maturity vulnerability has risen significantly in rural and regional areas.
RFW looks forward to the Government’s response to the report’s 16 recommendations and continuing to engage in the process to ensure no country child is left behind.