Disability Employment Centre of Excellence

SARA WHALE:  Good afternoon and welcome to today's public briefing for the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence.  My name is Sara Whale and for those of you who may need a visual description of me, I am a woman in my late 40s, I have long straight dark hair, I'm wearing grey trousers today with a black long sleeve top and I'm also wearing glasses.  

I would like to start today by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands on which we all meet today around the country and acknowledge their ongoing connections to land, water, culture and community.  I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and I would also like to extend that respect to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who are joining us here today.  

So today we have lots of information that we will be sharing with you today, but it is also your opportunity to have your say, so we do invite you to join our discussion today using the QR code that is on your screen now.  The QR code will remain on your screen throughout the entire presentation.  So you can click on this at any time and pop in your questions throughout the session today so our panel will be able to answer these questions as we get to the end of the session.  

Before we do get into the detail of today's session, I do first need to read a Probity Statement: the Department of Social Services is committed to conducting a fair, honest and transparent process for the establishment and implementation of the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence.  These guidelines may be changed by the Department of Social Services.  When this happens, the revised guidelines are published on GrantConnect.  The Australian Government will make sure that the grant opportunity process is fair according to the published guidelines, incorporates appropriate safeguards against fraud, unlawful activities and other inappropriate conduct, and is consistent with the Commonwealth Grants Rules Principles of 2024.  

So for today's event, this means that this presentation will be made publicly available on the DSS website and any views expressed or information provided by attendees to this event will be considered, along with the views expressed and information provided by other stakeholders.  If there are any inconsistencies between today's briefing and the documentation published on the GrantConnect website for this grant, then the documentation as published on the GrantConnect website takes precedence.  

So thank you.  I am really pleased to be hosting this public briefing for the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence.  With me today we have Kellie Spence, Kellie is the Group Manager for Disability Employment, and we also have Alex Buckley, the Branch Manager, Disability Employment Policy.  Kellie will provide an overview of the Centre of Excellence grant opportunity and Alex will be providing information about the grant requirements and also the assessment criteria.  

At the end of today's presentation, we will have time for your questions and answers.  As we mentioned earlier, you can use the QR code at any stage throughout today's session.  Please jump in and ask your questions as we go through.  So to start us off, I will now hand over to Kellie.

KELLIE SPENCE:  Thank you, Sara.  So I'll just give a quick introduction of myself.  I'm a woman, I like to describe it as my middle years, and I'm dressed for spring with a floral dress today and some boots.  

So the Government committed $23.3 million in funding over four years to establish a Disability Employment Centre of Excellence to improve disability employment outcomes.  To start, I will provide an overview of the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence grant opportunity, including the purpose and intended outcomes; grant opportunity guidelines; eligible and ineligible organisations; establishment and operational activities; as well as activities to deliver the core functions of the Centre, including development and delivery of resources, website development, collaboration, promotion, communication and evaluation.  Alex will then outline the selection criterion, provide additional information on key aspects of the grant opportunity and outline the application process.  

Before I provide the overview, I want to be clear that the grant opportunity guidelines provide the intended purpose and outcomes of the Centre and activities that must be undertaken for establishment and implementation.  We expect applicants to use their expertise and knowledge in providing their vision for the Centre, including details on collaboration, engagement, governance, resource development, and delivery based on the grant opportunity guidelines as part of their applications.  

The Centre of Excellence will be an evidence informed, best practice hub.  The intended outcomes of the grant and the Centre of Excellence is to increase the delivery of quality employment services and supports that lead to improved disability outcomes, have an improved understanding of employer needs and the skills and knowledge to help employers hire and support employees with disability.  The purpose of the Centre is to provide resources, tools and training to help providers deliver quality employment services and support to both participants with disability and employers.  

In the consultation process that we undertook, we heard that there were resources out there, but these resources are not always easy to access or to put into practice.  The Centre will support all providers who help deliver employment outcomes for people with a disability, including the new Specialist Disability Employment Program, Workforce Australia, remote employment services, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and supported employment, including what's previously been referred to as Australian Disability Enterprises.  

The Centre will not be a physical hub located within a building.  Rather, it will be an online hub that will develop and deliver disability employment resources over time.  It will still be highly connected with a range of stakeholders to work out what works in disability employment to make a difference on the ground.  

Once established, the Centre will collect, translate and disseminate disability employment related research and evidence of what works into best practice resources, bringing together and using existing resources available both nationally and internationally.  

Engagement will be really important and there are a wide range of stakeholders the Centre will need to work with, including employment service providers, provider peaks, disability employment experts, universities and research institutes to both build the evidence and ensure it is used, as well as people with disability, their families and advocates or representatives and employer representative groups to ensure it's meeting both of their needs.  

The Centre of Excellence will improve disability employment outcomes by ensuring that providers and their diverse staff have higher levels of disability awareness to support participants more effectively, knowledge of evidence based models and approaches, and improved understanding of employer needs and the skills and knowledge to help employers to hire and support employees with disability.  

The Centre is intended to commence in March 2025 to support the introduction of the new Specialist Disability Employment Program from 1 July 2025.  The Centre has been designed to be closely connected to the new Specialist Disability Employment Program through its role in developing and disseminating best practice resources and tools for providers.  It will foster collaboration across employment providers by working with employment service providers, employers and other stakeholders to improve the quality and effectiveness of services.  

This slide provides a summary of the key timeframes for the Centre of Excellence grant opportunity.  Key dates include any questions regarding the grant should be sent no later than 5pm on 16 October.  The grant opportunity will close at 9pm, 23 October.  Indicative timings for notification is January for commencement in February/March.  There are some key early deliverables which we will cover off during the presentation.  

The grant opportunity guidelines are a framework for providers.  We would like your ideas and plans on how to implement this framework to achieve the Centre's intended outcomes.  The successful grantee will work with the department and stakeholders to agree a forward work plan and priorities.  

It is essential that the grantee collaborates and works with disability employment service providers, people with disability, their families and stakeholders to draw on a range of perspectives in developing the Centre.  Engagement will inform and ensure information and resources are collated, accessible and really usable.  

In terms of the application criteria, we are seeking applications from an individual eligible organisation or a consortium of eligible organisations that have a strong understanding of the disability employment sector; a demonstrated organisational leadership in employing people with disability; a demonstrated ability to leverage relationships across a range of relevant stakeholders, including people with lived experience of disability; a track record in establishing and leading partnerships to effectively deliver the Centre of Excellence; and expertise in developing practical resources and evidence that will make a difference to practice on the ground.  Individual eligible organisations or a consortium of eligible organisations can apply for the grant opportunity.  

Providers receiving funding from the Commonwealth to deliver an employment service as either a disability employment service, an Australian Disability Enterprise, Workforce Australia, or a National Disability Insurance Scheme provider are not eligible to apply.  The decision to exclude these services has been made to protect the Centre's capacity to collaborate equally and without prejudice with all willing providers in an employment service to people with disability.  

If you wish to apply as a consortium, you must appoint a lead organisation who will be solely accountable for the delivery of grant activities and applying on behalf of the consortium members.  You can only submit one application for this grant as either a single eligible organisation or as the nominated lead eligible organisation of a consortium.  Eligible organisation can be a partner in multiple consortium applications, but only the lead organisation in one consortium application.  

When applying as the consortium, the application must clearly identify all other members of the proposed consortium and the application must have letters of support from each of the consortium members.  Each letter of support should include details of the consortium members, confirmation that the consortium member supports the grant application and is aware of the requirements of the grant application, confirmation that the consortium members will work with the lead applicant and the other consortium members in establishing the Centre, and details of a nominated management level contact officer.  The successful provider or consortium lead provider will enter into a four year individualised grant agreement to deliver the Centre.  

The successful organisation or consortium must undertake the following to deliver the Centre.  They must undertake all necessary planning and administrative steps relating to the establishment and running of the Centre; they must select, appoint and maintain suitably qualified and experienced staff, noting that staff with lived experience of disability are to be considered a priority during recruitment; recruit a suitably qualified director of the Centre.  The director should have extensive experience in disability employment through employment services, research and advocacy and lived experience of disability is desirable.  They must also establish and provide governance of the Centre.  

The department will assist the successful applicant in setting the Centre's work program, undertake market research to develop the Centre's name and branding elements for the Centre and distribution of material ahead of the Centre's website being launched.  

The successful organisation or consortium must develop and deliver free and accessible resources, including Easy Read versions, tools and training for employment services that are practical and digestible and influence practice, including an evidence base of what works in disability employment; a suite of evidence based best practice resources to meet the needs of employment services and improve their practice; mapping existing research, resources and tools, both nationally and internationally; developing and delivering a range of resources suitable for individuals, organisations and groups, including First Nations organisations, intersectional groups, LGBTIQA+, young people and school leavers; and as per the recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission, developing and delivering information, practice based resources and training targeted to employment service providers.  Topics highlighted by the Royal Commission include disability awareness with a focus on employment service practice, employer engagement, cultural competency, human rights, and customised employment.  

Of this list, disability awareness and employer engagement for service providers has been identified as a priority to support the commencement of the new Specialist Disability Employment Program on 1 July 2025.  It must be progressively delivered up to 13 June 2025, and we'll talk about this a bit more later in the webinar.  

The successful applicant must develop a Centre of Excellence website, which will be delivered by 1 September 2025.  The website will host resources, tools and information about the Centre.  The website will launch with some initial material and will evolve over time with additional resources and functionality.  The hosting of Centre resources will be supported by the department until the launch of the website.  The website must be fully accessible and meet standard requirements.  

While the website will be created by the successful grantee, the domain name, website and all content, code databases and related material will be owned by the Commonwealth.  The website must be compliant with the Digital Transformation Agency's Service Standards, Australian Privacy Principles, Australian Government Style Manual, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 at a minimum AA standard and where possible a AAA standard, and use plain language principles with the user's needs at the forefront.  

And now for some technical stuff.  The website must be hosted on a secure hosting service with greater than 99.9% uptime, use of a Web Application Firewall or Content Delivery Network software.  Regular back ups must be captured and a full site recovery should be achievable in under two days.  They should have no public user accounts and be built on the Drupal Content Management System.  Where possible, the site should be based on the GovCMS distribution.  

Collaboration and engagement with a variety of stakeholders will be essential for the Centre to be successful.  The successful applicant must engage and collaborate with employers, employment consultants, people with disability, their families and carers, peak bodies, advocacy organisation and representative bodies.  They will need to establish ongoing collaborative relationships or partnerships with research centres or hubs, learning platforms or other relevant organisations to share knowledge, coordinate easy access to resources and avoid duplication of work.  They should collaborate with various employment service providers to learn from their experience and expertise on what works and to work out what learnings and training resources are needed.  

Promotion and communication activities must be undertaken.  These activities will help build trust with employment service providers and ensure providers are aware of and using the resources and tools developed by the Centre.

The successful applicant will need to participate in evaluation activities and work with an independent evaluator, and Alex will provide some more detail on this later in the webinar.  

Now, just in case you missed it, the QR code to support questions and feedback through this webinar is up on your screen again and I'll now hand over to Alex to go through information on the assessment criteria and grant requirements.

ALEX BUCKLEY:  Thank you, Kellie.  So I'm Alex Buckley.  I work with Kellie and look after disability employment policy.  I am a woman.  I would describe my hair as dark blonde, around shoulder length.  I am head to toe in black today and lovely to be here.  

So I will take you through the assessment criteria.  There are five criterion.  It's important that applicants read through the assessment criteria carefully as outlined in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines as each assessment criteria must be addressed.  The department will assess applications based on the weightings given to each criterion and there are five criterion to respond to as part of the grant opportunity.  I will go through each of these now.  If you're following along, these are set out in section 6 of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines.  

The first criterion, criterion 1, capacity and capability to establish and operate the Centre of Excellence   applicants will be expected to demonstrate their capacity and capability to establish and operate the Centre.  This includes demonstrating experience in delivering similar projects; displaying a clear understanding of potential risks and issues that may be encountered, including mitigation strategies; demonstrating how they will ensure efficient and economical use of grant funds in establishing and operating the Centre; outlining how the online hub will be established and maintained; demonstrating their ability to effectively establish and operate the Centre, including the ability to access resources and personnel with relevant expertise, skills and experience; and also demonstrate how success will be measured.  

The second criterion is around proposed model, governance, and staffing structure of the Centre of Excellence.  Applicants are expected to provide their proposed model for the Centre, including the governance framework and expected staff structure.  This criterion should also cover the proposed approach to working with stakeholders and developing partnerships, including how the applicant will meet the collaborative requirements of the grant and how the existing partnership with key stakeholders will be used to deliver the Centre.  Applications should also include how the successful applicant will operate as a genuine inclusive entity that has the needs of people with disability at its core.  

For the third criterion, delivery of core functions of the Centre of Excellence   applicants are required to describe how they would operate the Centre to ensure its core functions are met.  There are two deliverables with specific deadlines for the Centre that must be addressed as part of this response.  The first is a suite of information and practice based resources on the topics of disability awareness and employer engagement for use by employment service providers which must be delivered progressively up to 13 June 2025 to support the commencement of the new Specialist Disability Employment Program, which will commence on 1 July 2025.  

A Disability Employment Centre of Excellence Online Hub must also be delivered and it needs to be a standalone website capable of hosting information and practice based resources and training in a range of formats by no later than 1 September 2025.  In addition to criterion 3, applicants are required to complete a draft Activity Work Plan which includes sections for a budget plan, stakeholder engagement, and risk management plan for the four year grant period.  I'll provide some more detail on the activity work plan soon.  

The fourth criterion, demonstrate how engagement and collaboration will be used to establish the Centre.  Applicants will be expected to demonstrate how engagement and collaboration will be used to develop the Centre, including outlining how the Centre will be established as a collaborative institution; outlining how collaboration and engagement will be used within the governance structure of the Centre and for decision making processes; demonstrating the applicant's ability to collaborate and engage with relevant research institutions, service providers, peak bodies and employers to develop and deliver quality practice based resources, tools and training; outlining how the applicant will disseminate outputs of the Centre to the sector; and outlining the applicant's understanding of the current disability employment landscape, including employment options, challenges to the sector, and the role of employment service providers.  

For the last and fifth criterion, it must deliver value for money for Government, so applicants must provide a project budget with an outline of a proposed payment structure and information on how accessibility requirements will be met and how diverse cohort needs will also be met.  

Now for some targeted information.  There are three aspects to this   the draft activity work plans, the evaluation, and specific intellectual property clauses contained in the grant agreement.  I'll first take you through some information on the draft activity work plan.  The successful applicant must demonstrate clearly in a draft activity work plan the objectives, deliverables, timeframes and measures of success to establish the Centre and deliver the Centre's core functions.  

The draft activity work plan from the successful applicant will clearly outline how the successful applicant will achieve a collaborative centre, providing a detailed stakeholder engagement strategy.  It is expected that activities in this draft work plan will then be tested with stakeholders after commencement.  

This work plan will also need to provide a detailed budget for all items.  The budget plan should be comprehensive and provide a breakdown of costs for establishment and operation of the Centre and a document that details a risk management plan for the Centre.  The department will work with the successful applicant regarding their draft activity work plan to ensure it meets the department's requirements.  

The second element is around independent evaluation of the Centre, so the department will be undertaking an independent post implementation review and evaluation of the Centre.  A grant agreement requirement is that the successful grantee will work closely with an independent evaluator in all evaluation activities, including identifying data and embedding data collection and information sharing into the Centre's ongoing operations; identifying measurable outcomes and impacts; sharing evidence and insights with the evaluator; and sharing relevant stakeholder information with the evaluator.  

The third component to this is intellectual property clauses, so the department is requiring full intellectual property rights of the content delivered by the successful grantee for the Centre of Excellence.  This is to ensure that the resources, tools and training materials produced by the Centre are freely accessible to all stakeholders across the disability employment sector.  

Now to talk through the application process.  So to apply for the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence you can find all information on the GrantConnect website.  The information is on screen now.  This is where you can find the online application form, required templates and questions and answers.  Please note your application must be submitted to the Community Grants Hub by 9pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on 23 October 2024.  Late applications will not be accepted unless the applicant has experienced exceptional circumstances that prevent the submission of the application.  

The grant activity is expected to commence March 2025, as Kellie outlined earlier, with the end date of 30 June 2028.  Please contact the Grants Hub for any questions about the grant activity.  The contact details are on screen.  You can also find the contact details in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines and we will be still taking questions, but they should be sent through no later than 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on 16 October 2024.

Assessment of grant applications   so the Community Grants Hub will review your application against the eligibility criteria.  Only eligible applications will move to the next stage.  If eligible, the department will assess applications against the assessment criteria that I outlined earlier and we will assess your application on its merits, based on how well it meets the assessment criteria and how it compares to other applications.  

A Selection Advisory Panel will consider whether the application provides value for money.  When assessing the extent to which the application represents value for money, the Selection Advisory Panel will have regard to the overall objectives to be achieved in providing the grant; the extent to which the evidence in the application demonstrates that it will contribute to meeting the outcomes and objectives of the grant; how the grant activities will target groups or individuals; and how the application compares to other applications.  Applicants may also be subject to a financial viability assessment.  Please note the department will write to all applicants on the outcome of their application.  I'll now hand back to Sara for our questions and answers.

SARA:  Great.  Thank you so much.  Thank you very much to both Kellie and also to Alex for the very comprehensive and valuable information that's been provided to us today, very appreciated.  

So we do now have about 15 to 20 minutes essentially for questions and answers today.  Thank you so much to everybody so far for your contributions.  We have a number of questions that are already coming through through the use of the QR code.  So if you haven't already, essentially a quick reminder, jump on to that QR code and pop your questions in as we go through today.  Also, just a reminder that any information that is coming through to us today, we will take it all, we will record it as feedback and any other information provided by stakeholders throughout this whole process.  

So in terms of kicking off our questions today, by the looks of it, we've got one straightaway.  Alex, we might actually throw this one to you to start us.  So Alex, how will the Centre provide value for providers?  

ALEX:  So the Centre of Excellence will develop and deliver evidence based best practice free and accessible resources, tools and training for employment services that are practical and digestible and influence practice.  This will in return add value to providers and subsequently participants who engage with the specialist employment program.  This will also form part of a component of our future evaluation.

SARA:  Great.  That's fantastic.  Thank you so much, Alex.  Okay, another question coming through and Kellie, I think we might pass this one to you.  So Kellie, how will providers be supported and encouraged to share best practice resources with the Centre of Excellence in a competitive environment?  Will there be any strategies in place to support this?

KELLIE:  Thank you.  Well, part of the role of the Centre of Excellence is actually to share those best practice resources with all employment service providers and increase delivery and improve disability outcomes through those resources, tools and training.  It's also expected that the Centre will establish and collaborate with all employment service providers bringing that together.  

I would also like to note that the department has recently released the new Disability Employment Services Performance Framework and that framework encourages providers not just to continuously improve their overall performance, but there's a change in it to move to benchmarks and what that means is that providers actually can collaborate together to improve performance and exceed benchmarks, whereas the previous program actually had them sort of competing against each other, so that it's actually possible they can work together and all improve and all do better than their benchmarks.  So it's just one of the examples that we're trying to change within the new program to encourage greater collaboration and that should support the work of the Centre of Excellence.

SARA:  Mmm, absolutely.  Thank you so much, Kellie.  That's fabulous.  Okay, the next question.  We might stay with you, Kellie, on this one.  So Kellie, how will the Centre of Excellence be connected to various parts of the Specialist Disability Employment Program?

KELLIE:  So I think, similar to the last question that we raised, we're really expecting them to develop and disseminate those best practice resources and tools to the new Specialist Disability Employment Program providers   actually, and all employment service providers come to mention that   and it's really aiming to foster that collaboration across that program by working with the employment service providers, employers and other stakeholders to really improve the quality and effectiveness of services as a whole.  The Centre will also gather and translate evidence from the Specialist Disability Employment Program initiatives and other sources and the practice of those providers themselves to really inform and share that practice across all service delivery.  

I'd also like to highlight the link with supported employment services.  You know, the Centre will also be looking at what's the evidence around supporting more people with disability, particularly those with high needs, to transition to open employment and how does working with the Specialist Disability Employment Program help in that as well and how can the combination of the things out there in the system work together to produce the best outcomes for people with disability.

SARA:  Mmm, absolutely.  Incredibly valuable there, thank you.  Thanks, Kellie.  Okay.  So another question coming through now, so again Kellie.  So do NDIS partners in the community and local area coordinators fall into the category of NDIS providers?

KELLIE:  So yes, NDIS partners do fall into that category of NDIS providers and aren't eligible to apply for the grant opportunity, but as being part of the overall system, we are wanting the people, whoever gets up in the Centre of Excellence, to be working with all of those different partners and parts of the puzzle in terms of bringing it together to work well.

SARA:  Yes, absolutely.  Thank you.  Thank you, Kellie.  We might give you a little breather and maybe pass this one on to Alex now.  So Alex, the next question for you: will you provide a copy of the presentation after this webinar?

ALEX:  Thank you, Sara.  Yes, we will absolutely ensure the presentation is available and it will be available on the DSS website.

SARA:  Absolutely.  Thanks, Alex.  And we will give you a quick reminder as we get to the end of the session today on where you can locate that information as well.  The next question to come through now   Kellie, back to you on this one.  So Kellie, can an NDIS service provider be a consortium member?

KELLIE:  So providers who are receiving funding from the Commonwealth to deliver an employment service, whether that be a disability employment service, Australian Disability Enterprise, part of NDIS, Workforce Australia, are ineligible to apply for the grant and are unable to apply as either an individual organisation or consortium lead organisation or a consortium member and really that decision has been made to sort of ensure that the Centre of Excellence is able to collaborate equally and without prejudice with all willing providers in that employment services system and produce sort of the best outcomes and support that collaboration and engagement that we were sort of talking about earlier.

SARA:  Mmm, absolutely.  Okay.  Thank you, Kellie.  So I guess moving on as well in relation to the previous question, the next one might have a bit of continuation here.  So Kellie, what is the Government's long term plan to use the IP provided by consortium providers and are we going to consider going in house after four years?

KELLIE:  That's assuming we're doing some really long term planning.  The Commonwealth really is requesting that full intellectual property rights to the content developed by the successful grantee to ensure that the resources, tools and training materials that are produced by the Centre of Excellence are freely accessible to all stakeholders across the disability employment sector and by retaining ownership of the intellectual property, the Commonwealth can ensure that these materials can be widely distributed, shared and utilised without restrictions and therefore maximising their impact in supporting sort of the long term goals.

It also will help with maintaining consistency, quality in updates to those resources over time.  

In terms of what is going to happen to the Centre after four years, that's still going to be a decision for Government and it will be informed by the independent evaluation, but obviously we want those resources to remain accessible.

SARA:  Absolutely.  So Kellie, we'll keep on with you for a little bit of a moment here.  You're on a roll.  But yes, the next one, Kellie, is there a data repository where policymakers can draw evidence to implement policy and practice and how do we ensure that sharing data is in a transferrable way?

KELLIE:  So I'm not sure if that sounds like it's kind of a broader question, but in terms of the information and data collected by the Centre of Excellence, this will be made accessible through an online hub which will really serve as a central repository for all resources, tools, best practice materials that are developed by the Centre and the hub will be fully accessible, you know, really following those accessibility standards and aim to meet the really diverse needs of people, including Easy Read versions.  It is aiming to have that hub up by September 2025 and so that will be as much research findings, case studies, best practice so that all stakeholders can use that, including us, as we do sort of our work and have it freely accessible to improve overall outcomes.

SARA:  Absolutely.  Thank you, Kellie.  Okay, we've still got about five minutes remaining, so once again, as these questions are coming through, you still have an opportunity to jump on to your QR code and continue to pop those questions through to us.  Thank you for the ones that are coming through so far.  So Alex, a question for you now:  what is the grant amount so that we can start tailoring the plans?

ALEX:  So the single grant funding totals $22.106 million, GST exclusive, and the funding is available over the 2024 25 to the 2027 28 financial years.

SARA:  Okay.  Thank you very much.  So in terms of the funding amount, excellent to know.  Keeping with you, Alex, are there any conflict of interest issues that we might need to be aware of?  So I guess, for example, if a provider is offering employment supports, will they be able to continue doing so?

ALEX:  So as part of the process, all conflict of interest, whether real or perceived, must be declared as part of the grant opportunity and the process for doing this is outlined in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines.

SARA:  Fantastic.  That's good to know.  Thank you, Alex.  Okay, back to you, Kellie, for a couple more questions.  So Kellie, will the grant accommodate individuals that can offer specific narrow and deep expertise, as opposed to applications to meet full end to end Centre of Excellence capability?

KELLIE:  So in a nutshell, this is why we've sort of allowed or encouraged the option of a consortium of eligible organisations.  If there's an individual organisation who thinks they can meet the scope of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines, then that's fantastic.  Otherwise it's allowing for, yeah, that consortia to come together to meet the requirements.  So individuals could partner in a consortium to meet the requirements and bring their particular expertise into that mix.

SARA:  Mmm, absolutely, it's good and it's good to highlight, I guess, the main reason why that's been a consideration within this as well, so thank you.  

So Kellie again, next question: the guidelines do consider researchers to be an eligible expenditure item.  Does this mean that the Centre has to remit to conduct new research?  

KELLIE:  So the Centre itself will not be focused at this stage on conducting original research.  Instead, it will focus on that collecting, analysing and translating existing research and evidence from a variety of sources, including academic studies and national/international best practice models, pilot programs and case studies, and sort of bring that together.  So it's really to convert that existing evidence into practical tools, resources and training for service providers and employers.  It will also collaborate with research institutions to ensure that it's got the most up to date and relevant research in its efforts and I think it mentions researchers in there because they've got sort of that background in how to do some of that bringing that and bringing it out into practical methods as well.

SARA:  Fantastic.  Thank you.  Thank you, Kellie.  Okay.  The next question that we have, we might throw to Alex for this one.  So Alex, is the Centre of Excellence committed funding or subject to change if Government changes?

ALEX:  So the funding amount over the four financial years is committed and we are not expecting that to change if there is a change of Government.

SARA:  That's fantastic.  It's good to know.  I know that that's been a question out there for a number of people.  So again, Alex, next question: how much autonomy will the awarded consortium have to manage the grant and make decisions, so what will the Government's role be in that?

ALEX:  So we went into a fair bit of detail around the activity work plan.  That will outline quite a bit of detail and the department will work closely with the successful applicant.  We're expecting to do six monthly reporting, which will be required and we will engage with the Centre regularly around what they're doing.

SARA:  Thank you.  Thank you so much, Alex.  Okay.  Kellie, so next question I think we'll go to you.  I think we're still looking around intellectual property here.  So can the intellectual property be an ongoing royalty free licence for use by Commonwealth Government where there is desire to make available pre existing resources or training with existing intellectual property?

KELLIE:  So I think, as we've mentioned through the presentation, the Commonwealth is requesting full intellectual property rights of the content that's developed by the successful grantee to ensure that the resources and tools can be freely accessible to those in the sector.  If content has already been developed by a partner organisation and they wish to use it as a resource for the Centre, then licensing will be negotiated with the relevant owner and the Centre will work closely with that lead organisation or consortium partners to ensure that the ownership and use of any intellectual property are clearly defined in their grant agreement.

SARA:  Absolutely.  Thank you so much there, Kellie.  Okay.  So in terms of the information that we've got, lots and lots of questions that have come through so far and lots of information today as well.  Anything coming from these questions or the information that you really think is crucial to highlight at the moment?

KELLIE:  I don't know.  I think   I mean, there's quite a few technical type questions.  I think I'd just go back to that statement we made earlier, like really this is trying to give a framework and we're looking for that sort of strong vision and how the respondent will seek to address that whilst delivering all the technical aspects of getting the Centre up and running, but really bringing that to the fore and try to really influence practice on the ground.

SARA:  Yes, absolutely.  Thank you.  So Kellie, next question: will the Centre of Excellence be a repository for ILC grants and other DSS pilots and grants so there is better insight to learnings and initiatives?

KELLIE:  So yes, that's one of the things that we are looking forward to having is a place for some of that information to be made shared more between people and different stakeholders.  So that's something that we're definitely looking at.

SARA:  Excellent.  Looking forward to that too.  Okay.  So we've got some more questions that are coming through.  We can see them loading within our system now, so lots of questions.  Again, thank you so much for popping the questions and the details through today.  Some of these questions will potentially even generate more questions and you will have an opportunity to continue posing those questions and we'll remind you of that at the end of the session today as well.  

So Kellie, will international research gained and drawn on be contextualised to the Australian marketplace?  

KELLIE:  Yes.  So I think that we're looking for the Centre of Excellence to really ensure its resources remain current by continuously reviewing and incorporating new research and feedback from stakeholders, best practice models, but yes, it will need to consider what something that's overseas, how it would apply within the context, what can we learn from it, what might we still need to explore because it's something really new and doesn't seem to fit so easily.

SARA:  Absolutely.  Best practice from lots of places.  That's fantastic.  

Thank you so much, everyone.  That is actually bringing us to a close for the session today.  It's roughly about all that we do have time for.  

So a quick reminder for everyone that this presentation will be published on the Centre of Excellence DSS website and any questions and answers raised today will also be added to the questions and answers document available on GrantConnect as well.  

You might still, like a lot of us here today I'm sure, be processing a lot of the information as well as the questions that have already come through today and that's fine.  It's okay.  You will still have time to contribute and send us any further questions or information that you have on the grant opportunity.  So please contact the Community Grants Hub in order to put that information through.  As a reminder, we've already mentioned a couple of times through the session today, questions should be sent through no later than 5pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time on 16 October 2024.  

So we've gone through quite a bit of information today, lots and lots of questions, so I'd like to say a very big thank you to Kellie and thank you to Alex for the information today.  We want to thank you very much for interacting with us today online and for also joining us today as well.  Your time is very valuable and we really do appreciate it and we appreciate that you've given it to us today.  

So on behalf of Kellie, Alex, myself and the department, we would like to thank you very much.  It's been an absolute pleasure to spend the afternoon with you today and we hope you have a great day.  Thank you.