National Guidelines Project Expert Advisory
Committee – Expression of Interest
For enquiries related to the National Guidelines Project please contact:
Dree Ballardin Project Lead – Eastern Australia
E Dree.Ballardin@eciavic.org.au
Leah Temme Project Lead – Western and Central Australia
E Leah.Temme@eciavic.org.au
Early Childhood Intervention Australia (Victorian Chapter)
T 03 9819 5266 W www.eciavic.org.au
Background
Early Childhood Intervention Australia (ECIA) is the peak national organisation promoting the interests of
young children with disabilities and developmental delays and their families. ECIA is dedicated to
ensuring that young children of all abilities can fully participate in family and community life.
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has asked ECIA to provide recommendations for a set
of national guidelines for minimum standards in Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) service delivery for the
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS is new to disability service provision in Australia
and provides a set of agreements which ensures that there is a single consistent scheme for the provision
of disability support services across all Australian states and territories. It provides funding directly to
individuals who are able to choose their own services and purchase directly to providers. The NDIS will
essentially mean the end to ‘block funding’ from government to service providers.
Current models of service delivery in Australia vary across and within states and territories. Whilst
diversity of practice is valued for its contribution to innovation and its capacity to tailor NDIS support to
individual children and their families, there is a need to focus more on outcomes for children. As a
national scheme the NDIS requires guidelines that may be consistently applied in all states and territories,
so children and families are not treated differently because of their location. The national guidelines will
be based upon national and international best practice evidence in ECI service delivery.
This project commenced in February 2015 with a first draft of minimum standards supporting best practice
in ECI to be delivered by 30 June 2015. ECIA will be establishing a Steering Committee to oversee the
project and an Expert Advisory Group to provide technical advice and support to the Project team.
Project Principles
The National Guidelines will:
 Strengthen consistency of quality of all service providers delivering ECI by defining evidencebased best practice service provision.
 Improve outcomes for children and their families as well as for the NDIS more broadly.
 Take a participatory approach to involve relevant stakeholders, including the early childhood
intervention service providers, State and Commonwealth governments, parents, experts in the
field including universities and research bodies, universal services (health and education) and
other relevant peak bodies
 Identify potential implementation issues in transitioning to a national ECI support scheme and
recommend solutions.
Project Deliverables
The project team will undertake the following steps to develop a set of evidenced based national
guidelines which will go out for public consultation in the first half of 2015.
 Identify best practice in ECI drawing upon national and international ECI theory and practice.
 Review current models of service delivery across states and territories.
 Compare current models of service delivery with best practice.
 Recommend strategies, tools and resources to address any gaps identified between current
practices and best practice.
Purpose of the Expert Advisory Committee
The purpose of the Expert Advisory Committee is to provide technical advice to the Project Team and
support the National Guidelines project as needed. The Expert Advisory Committee will bring together a
collection of individuals who bring expert knowledge and skills within the field of ECI which complement
the knowledge and skills of the National Guidelines Project Team.
The Expert Advisory Committee will not have formal authority to govern the project nor issue directives
that must be followed. Rather, the Expert Advisory Committee serves to make recommendations and/or
provide key information and materials to the National Guidelines Project Team.
The Expert Advisory Committee role includes:
 Providing advice on best practice in ECI nationally and internationally.
 Providing an overview of current models of ECI service delivery across all Australian states and
territories.
 Assisting with identifying key ECI stakeholders for the consultation workshops.
 Provide independent, unbiased insights and ideas from a third point-of-view.
 Incorporate additional layers of diversity and new perspectives within the Project Team.
 Advocating for the project.
Proposed Members and Roles










Chair (Dree Ballardin and Leah Temme)
National Guidelines Project Leads.
Academic Representative
Current contributor to research on best practice in Early Childhood Development and Intervention.
Parent/Carer Representative
Including Parent/Carer advocacy groups who are able to represent the views and experiences of
parents/carers who receive ECI support.
Federal Government Representative
Able to represent the Federal Government policy, legislation and views on ECI service provision
and funding.
State/Territory Government Representative
Able to represent State/Territory Governments policy, legislation and views on ECI service
provision and funding.
Service Provider Representative
Current provider of ECI services and able to represent views of both large and small Service
Provider organisations.
Sole Provider Representative
Current provider of ECI services.
ECI Professional Representative
Currently delivering ECI therapy or represents an ECI professional body.
Rural and Remote Australia Representative
Provides expertise in identifying current challenges and potential issues with delivering ECI
services in rural and remote settings.
Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Representative
Provides expertise in identifying challenges and potential issues in providing ECI services to
culturally and linguistically diverse children and families including Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander communities.
Expert Advisory Committee Members should:
 Understand the strategic implications and outcomes of the National Guidelines project.
 Appreciate the significance of the National Guidelines project for some or all major stakeholders
and represent their interests.
 Be genuinely interested in the initiative and the outcomes being pursued in the National Guidelines
project.
 Be experts in their domain and well regarded within their community of practice.
Expert Advisory Committee members are also expected to communicate with those they represent on
issues and to carry the group’s perspective to Committee meetings and discussions.
A Terms of Reference for the Expert Advisory Committee is available and provides more information on
the roles and responsibilities of the Committee Members.
How will membership be determined?
Interested applicants will be asked to submit a short statement (3 - 4 paragraphs) on why they should sit
on the Committee. Applicants should also outline their specific areas of expertise in Early Childhood
Intervention that would be relevant to this role.
Responses to this Expression of Interest should be emailed as soon as possible to the Project Lead for
Eastern Australia, Dree Ballardin (E: Dree.Ballardin@eciavic.org.au) or the Project lead for Western and
Central Australia, Leah Temme (E: Leah.Temme@eciavic.org.au).
Due to the short timelines for this project we expect to announce the Expert Advisory Committee in early
April 2015 after the formation of the project Steering Committee.