What is the project?
This is a joint project between OPAN and Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA). The Advocacy Standards Project aims to develop an Australian standard that has formal recognition and standing, that is auditable and capable of being deployed across the funded Advocacy sector in Australia as the key benchmark of quality and the driver of continuous improvement and development to ensure consistent and quality services to people we serve.
Standard is named AS-5391, and has members from OPAN, DANA, disability and older persons’ peak bodies, research bodies, and, of course, Advocacy agencies who will be the users of the Standard when complete. It also has officials from the Departments of Social Services and Health and Aged Care.
Read the Advocacy Standards FAQs, which explains what it is intended to achieve and how it is meant to be applied to ensure quality in the delivery of Advocacy.
How will consultation occur so the I can have my say?
We want to hear from you about this new standard. You can use one or both of these.
- You can go straight to the Public Comment page on the Standards Australia website. Read the guidance document about using the Public Comment facility here. As this is an independent process run by Standards Australia, you will need to create an account, account set up and log on instructions can be found here.
In the wake of the report from the Aged Care Royal Commission, the role of Advocacy for older people became more prominent, and this was reinforced during the COVID pandemic and its devastating impact on older people. The Disability Royal Commission is also highlighting the vulnerability of people with disability in their communities and in some specialist service settings, focusing the need for strong independent Advocacy.
The two peak bodies representing Advocacy, the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) and the Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) agreed to work together to create a new Australian Standard specific to Advocacy for Aged Care and Disability, which can be used strengthen and continuously improve Advocacy, and enable agencies to demonstrate to government departments that they are achieving outcomes for the funding they receive.
Once the Standard is approved then there is a separate process that turns the Standard into a practical and applicable process that can be implemented on the at service outlets. This will be undertaken in conjunction with JAZ-ANZ.
Michael Bleasdale of Capacity Services Ltd is leading the project, alongside his colleague Murray Coates, and their contact details are available below. Michael has worked, and continues to work, in the Disability Advocacy sector for many years, and has experience of Advocacy for Older People as the former CEO of ADACAS in the ACT. He has also held roles on the Boards of the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) and the Disability Advocacy Network of Australia (DANA). Murray has worked in the disability sector for over 30 years, and in other community service roles in four states and territories, as well as holding a number of roles with a national focus.
Michael’s role in this project is to coordinate all elements of it, and to guide the development of the Standard itself through the Technical Committee and Working Groups which have been established by Standards Australia (see above) and have been responsible for providing the expert content for the Standard.
The Technical Committee asked for Working Groups to be formed, made of up people working as Advocates in both the aged care and disability Advocacy sectors, and people who use Advocacy in both sectors. Three Working Groups were established to assist the Technical Writer appointed to us by Standards Australia with the expert content required to make sure quality in Advocacy was understood and captured in the text. The three Working Groups each met on three occasions to discuss and draft criteria which cover the following aspects of the Standard:
- Delivering Advocacy in a human rights framework
- Service design, access and delivery
- Governance, quality and systemic advocacy
Working groups were established to assist with the drafting process. Each working group consisted of four people from advocacy organisations (two from aged care and two from Disability) and four people with lived experience of ageing or disability. The working groups on four occasions, each work on a section of the standards
The Technical Committee has met on four occasions now, and has been making decisions about the wording of the Standard and suggesting work to be done by the Working Groups. The process is nearing an end, with a few Technical Meetings to take place to consider the Standard it its current form, and to determine whether or not it is ready to be released for public consultation – a critical part of the development process.
What next?
The graphic below indicates where we are on the journey to develop the Standard. We are nearing the end of our drafting phase, which will be followed by a short period of editing by Standards Australia, after which the draft Standard will be released publicly for the first time for comment. This period last 9 weeks, and a formal consultation process is established by Standards Australia which allows anybody to provide their feedback. Below is more information about how you can be involved.
Contacts:
Michael Bleasdale
Project Leader
mbleasda@bigpond.net.au
Kate Bowditch
Standards Australia Project Manager
Kate.Bowditch@standards.org.au
