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Statement on the travel funding cuts under the NDIS
Travel funding cuts under NDIS will limit osteopathy access in rural Australia
12 June 2024
Osteopathy Australia is calling for urgent action following the National Disability Insurance Agency’s (NDIA) decision to halve travel funding under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) - a change that will severely restrict access to allied health services for people with disability, particularly in rural and regional Australia.
While pricing reductions affect multiple allied health professions, the travel funding change will impact osteopaths providing in-home or community-based services. In rural and regional areas, osteopaths often travel significant distances to deliver care. Without adequate travel support, these services may no longer be financially sustainable, increasing the likelihood that outreach care will be reduced or withdrawn altogether.
“This change doesn’t just make care harder to reach - in many areas, it removes access entirely,” said Alexander Norden, Policy Officer at Osteopathy Australia. “We’re already hearing from members who are deeply concerned about the implications for their NDIS participants. In remote parts of the country, there are no alternative providers.”
People with disability already struggle to access allied health care - and these cuts will make it even harder. Osteopaths often work with participants who need ongoing, whole-body support to improve mobility, manage pain, and stay independent. Removing access to that care undermines participants’ ability to achieve their NDIS goals.
This issue is further compounded by the ongoing exclusion of osteopathy from formal recognition under the NDIS. Without a dedicated line item, osteopaths are constrained in how they can deliver and report care - leaving participants to navigate unnecessary hurdles or miss out altogether.
Osteopathy Australia is calling on the NDIA to:
- Reinstate full travel funding to ensure equitable access to care for people with disability, regardless of postcode; and
- Introduce a dedicated NDIS line item for osteopathy, in recognition of its value as a regulated, university-qualified allied health profession.
- Ends -
Media contact:
Rebekka Thompson-Jones
Communications and Marketing
Osteopathy Australia
(02) 9410 0099