Osteopathy Australia's meeting with Senator Jordon Steele-John's office

We recently reached out to Senator Jordon Steele-John’s office for a meeting to gain his support in our pursuit of greater recognition of osteopathy in the NDIS. We built on the momentum of the outcry from the allied health sector after the release of the NDIS 2025-26 Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits to support our meeting.

On 6 August 2025, Antony Nicholas, Chief Executive Officer, Natasha Owens, Acting Policy and Advocacy Manager, and Alexander Norden, Policy Officer met with Emily Bray, Policy and Parliamentary Advisory at Senator Jordon Steele-John’s office to discuss our pending application for further recognition in the NDIS.

The history

We opened the meeting explaining our experience with the NDIA and NDIS Commission over the last several years, including productive meetings with the NDIS Commissioner and the former Deputy CEO of the NDIA in February 2025, where we were directed to gather existing evidence showcasing osteopathy’s tools, techniques and principles of practice to provide to the NDIA. We were also told in writing that there was no official NDIA policy that prevents appropriate osteopathy services from being funded in NDIS plans, and many members have used this letter in support of their funding applications since February this year.

Following that, in May 2025, we submitted a comprehensive paper to the NDIA to support our advocacy project for osteopathy to be a recognised profession under the NDIS and to help inform the operational guidelines utilised by plan managers. Since submitting that paper, we have received no further updates.

What do we want?

We had two questions for Emily and Senator Steele-John:

1. How can we collaborate to pressure the NDIA and the government, given Senator Steele-John’s work in holding the government to account in the disability space?
2. How can we demand better accountability from government agencies like the NDIA for timely and transparent communication?

Next steps

We have provided a list of questions on notice for Senator Steele-John to submit. These discussed the increasing rejection of osteopathy services in the NDIS, the significant delay in our formal application for recognition in the NDIA, and the increasing concerns in the allied health sector about the lack of transparency and engagement from the NDIA. See the submitted questions below.

1. Are reasonable and appropriate osteopathy services allowable under NDIS legislation.
2. Please provide the guidance that planners and plan managers receive in regards to funding osteopathy services.
3. Is there a formal process for services such as osteopathy to be added as line items in the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits (PAPL) ; if so, please provide an overview of that process.
4. Is osteopathy being considered for inclusion as a therapy support in future iterations of the NDIS PAPL; if so, what is the timeline for that to occur.
5. In regards to the changes implemented in the 2025-26 NDIS PAPL:
   1. what consultation was undertaken with participants and the disability community;
   2. what consultation was undertaken with service providers;
   3. which stakeholders, including participants, other members of the disability community, DROs, and service providers, were involved in the consultation; and
   4. what evidence and data was considered in making these changes.
6. Is the NDIA considering the establishment of a Therapeutic Supports Reference Group? 

We will continue to advocate for osteopathy’s recognition in the NDIS and are hopeful Senator Steele-John will be a powerful advocate for our profession.