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Osteopathy Australia's meeting with Minister Anne Aly's Office

Find out about the team's recent meeting with the office of the Hon Dr Anne Aly MP.

Meeting with Minister Anne Aly’s Office

On Monday 11 August 2025, our CEO, Antony Nicholas and Natasha Owens, acting Policy & Advocacy Manager, met with Jacqueline Cooke an adviser to the Hon Dr Anne Aly MP. The Hon Dr Anne Aly is the Minister for Small Business, International Development and Multicultural Affairs.

In this meeting we discussed how we can collaborate for the benefit of our members and the profession. We raised the following areas for potential collaboration and changes that could benefit our members who are small business owners:

  • We called for less duplication across different levels of government, so osteopaths spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.
  • Looking for opportunities to support thriving small businesses which are the backbone of many community-based allied health services.
  • Build better understanding with other Ministries and Departments about the value of primary care, osteopathy and small businesses.
  • We advocated for the role of osteopathy small businesses in disability support services in the NDIS and foundational supports and in the provision of Support at Home services after the negative impacts caused by the new Aged Care Act 2024.
  • We called for the expansion of subsidy and incentive programs to provide equity across health professions and to encourage practitioners to build small businesses in rural and remote areas. For example, the current HELP for Rural Doctors and Nurse Practitioners initiative could be expanded to include allied health professionals. Likewise, the expansion of the Commonwealth Prac Payment scheme to allied health professionals would support students through their studies which in turn will help to ensure that osteopathy small businesses will have well trained practitioners into the future.
  • Expansion of the Translating and Interpretating Service (TIS) to all allied health business so they can better support and communicate with their clients who have limited or no English proficiency.

This meeting was a positive first step in collaboration, with promise for ongoing collaboration and open communication.