End of Financial Year Deadlines
Each year the Department of Health (Tasmania) closes its finance system for two to three weeks from mid-June for end of financial year processing. During this time TAZREACH is unable to process any claims for payment until the system reopens in July.
With the end of the current financial year approaching, it is important to take note of a few deadlines:
19 June 2023 – This is the final day TAZREACH can process claims for June 2023. Please ensure all outstanding claims are submitted by this date for processing and payment before the end of June.
Please continue to submit claims for payment after this date. Processing will recommence in July.
14 July 2023 – All outstanding claims for 2022–23 need to be submitted by this date to ensure payment, unless otherwise notified.
Note that all claims relating to services under the Bass Strait Islands Agreement (BSIA) and Indigenous Eye Health Coordination (IEHC) programs will be followed up sooner to allow TAZREACH to meet its reporting deadlines.
Once our final reports have been finalised for the Australian Government, TAZREACH cannot guarantee that claims received after this date will be processed as all un-used funding is required to be reallocated.
Annual Review & Service Agreements for 2023-24
TAZREACH would like to thank all our service providers and host sites for your involvement in the 2022–23 annual review.
The work plans for the following outreach programs have been finalised and endorsed by our Advisory Forum:
- Rural Health Outreach Fund (RHOF)
- Medical Outreach Indigenous Chronic Disease Program (MOICDP)
- Healthy Ears – Better Hearing, Better Listening (HEBHBL)
- Visiting Optometrists Scheme (VOS)
- Indigenous Eye Health Coordination (IEHC)
The plans have been submitted to the Australian Government for final approval.
All providers and host sites whose services have been included in our planning for 2023–24 will receive new service agreements, and we anticipate these will be issued at the end of June or early July. To help us prepare new agreements, please contact TAZREACH and inform us if your contact or creditor details have changed.
The TAZREACH office will keep you updated if there are any delays to receiving your new agreement. Please continue to plan for your first visit(s) in 2023–24 until such time that you receive your agreement.
Child Safety & Wellbeing
For children and young people to be safe in our community, they need to be safe in our organisations. That’s why we need to work together to create and maintain Child and Youth Safe Organisations.
From 2024 onwards, a new legally mandated framework — the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework — will apply to a wide range of Tasmanian organisations that engage with children and young people.
The Framework sets out clear expectations for:
- How these organisations prioritise and promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, through the introduction of the Child and Youth Safe Standards.
- How they respond when there are concerns about a worker’s behaviour towards children and young people, through the introduction of the Reportable Conduct Scheme.
The Framework also outlines:
- The importance of independent oversight as a way to ensure organisations fulfil their obligations under the Framework, through the establishment of an Independent Regulator
- When it is appropriate or inappropriate to share information concerning a workers’ conduct towards a child or young person.
Broadly speaking, the Framework can be likened to workplace health and safety, in that it represents ongoing best-practice as opposed to a time-limited or temporary set of activities.
Organisations required to comply with the Framework will receive support to meet their new legal obligations and, in many instances, may be doing things that mean they are complying already.
Find out more about the Framework.
Find out what your organisation can do now to prepare.
Working with Vulnerable People Checks
All providers who deliver a service under the MOICDP, HEBHBL, or VOS must hold a valid Working with Vulnerable People (WwVP) check to comply with the Outreach Programs Service Delivery Standards. If you deliver a service under any of these programs and do not currently hold a Tasmania-issued WwVP registration, please contact the TAZREACH office.
TAZREACH Team Update
TAZREACH would like to thank and farewell Alex Brown who left TAZREACH in May 2023. Alex was a valued member of the TAZREACH team for many years and we wish her the best as she embarks on a new career path.