09/05/2026
The Thriving Kids NSW tender has now been released — and there is a serious issue that cannot be ignored.
Thriving Kids is designed to provide early intervention support for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism who have low to moderate support needs. The program is expected to begin rolling out from October 2026, as part of the broader shift in supports for children who may no longer access the NDIS in the same way.
On paper, the intention is important. Early intervention matters. Families need timely, practical and evidence-based support. Children should not have to wait until they are in crisis before help becomes available.
But the way this tender is being structured should deeply concern every family, clinician and regional community.
Under the current NSW procurement approach, the government is seeking to contract not-for-profit organisations to deliver Thriving Kids services. Private providers may submit an Expression of Interest, but only appear likely to be considered in limited circumstances where specialised or professional services are not available through not-for-profit organisations.
That may sound like a technical procurement decision. It is not.
Across rural, regional and remote NSW, private allied health providers are often the backbone of early childhood support. They are the speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists and developmental specialists who already know the children, the families, the schools, the preschools and the communities they serve.
Many have spent years building trust where services are already thin on the ground.
To sideline those providers, or force them to sit under larger regional or national not-for-profit organisations in order to participate, risks stripping them of their autonomy, their independence and their local identity.
This is not a criticism of not-for-profits. Many do outstanding work and are deeply valued in our communities.
But bigger does not automatically mean better. And centralised does not automatically mean more effective.
For many families, the most trusted provider is not the largest organisation. It is the local clinician who has walked beside them for years. It is the small practice that understands the child’s history. It is the therapist who knows the local preschool, the school principal, the GP, the family dynamics and the realities of living outside a metropolitan centre.
If the government truly wants children to thrive, then it must protect family choice, continuity of care and genuine local access.
A model that pushes trusted private providers to the margins risks reducing choice, disrupting existing relationships, and making it harder for families in regional communities to get the right support at the right time.
Thriving Kids should not become a system where local providers are absorbed, silenced or shut out.
It should be a system that welcomes every high-quality provider — public, not-for-profit and private — when they are delivering safe, evidence-based and trusted care to children and families.
Our children deserve the best support available.
Our families deserve choice.
And our regional communities deserve a model that strengthens the services already working on the ground — not one that unintentionally pushes them aside.
