A President's Travel Experience in Australia
Catriona M. Steele, M.H.Sc., SLP (C), CCC-SLP, Reg. CASLPO

Complete article from excerpt printed (Page 13) in January 2001 Communiqué

One of my final experiences as CASLPA President was also, without a doubt, one of the most exciting. On April 30th, I embarked on the 26-hour journey from Toronto to Australia, to attend the National Conference of Speech Pathology Australia in Adelaide. 1999 marked the 50th anniversary of Speech Pathology Australia, and I, together with the president of ASHA and other national associations, had been invited to attend the conference in Sydney; unfortunately, the timing of the 1999 Australian conference overlapped with the Canadian conference in Edmonton, so I was unable to attend. Australia has been a keen and active participant in continuing discussions with ASHA, CASLPA and the Royal College of Speech Therapists (United Kingdom) regarding reciprocity; following a meeting and joint presentation with representatives from these countries at the ASHA Convention in November, 1999, I was very pleased to receive (and this time accept) a second invitation to travel to Australia.

There is something extraordinarily valuable about watching others tackle similar challenges to those you face yourself; such an experience can validate your own strategies and practices, and can equally powerfully illustrate alternatives you might never have considered! While in Adelaide, I was privileged to attend, and participate in the Strategic Planning day of the Speech Pathology Australia National Council (equivalent to CASLPA's board of directors). This experience brought home to me many similarities between our two nations and associations, and also made me aware of some areas in our association's operational and governance practices which might be due (or even overdue) for a review.

So, here I offer for your consideration some similarities and differences, which I observed during my travels down under. I present them simply as observations, without any opinion regarding pros and cons. If you feel strongly that CASLPA should consider or try some fresh approaches on any of these topics, please contact your board member…..

• Canadians have morning coffee break….. Australians have morning (and afternoon) tea….
  
  
• Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 3 territories…. Australia is divided into 6 states, 2 territories
  
  
• Canada uses dollars and cents and so does Australia but htey no longer have penny coins - you only get charged interim amounts (between 5 cent boundaries) when use debit or credit card.
  
  
• Canadians tend to reside in the south of the country….. Australians live all the way around the perimeter of the country (the middle is desert and considered largely uninhabitable).
  
  
• Canada had 2 national airlines (until recently)…. Australia has 2 national airlines (Qantas and Ansett). However, in Australia, you can still make your flight without any difficulty if you arrive at the check-in counter 15 minutes before departure time!
  
  
• The national sport of Canada is ice-hockey… in Australia it's "Footie" (Australian-rule football).
  
  
• Canada provides health services through a publicly-funded social medicine system (although private fee-for-service healthcare has increased dramatically in recent years)… Australia has a 2-tiered system and most Australians purchase insurance which allows them to access the "private" tier. Third-party payer insurance for Speech Pathology services appeared (at least to me) to be more common and more generous than what is typically available in Canada.
  
  
• Canada has a national Goods and Services Tax, from which private Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology services are currently exempt… Australia introduced a national GST in June of this year which seemed about as unpopular as the Canadian one (historically)… private-practice Speech Language Pathologists were required to register to collect the Australian GST.
  
  
• CASLPA represents two professions: Speech-language pathology and Audiology… Speech Pathology Australia only represents Speech Pathologists
  
  
• The entry-to-practice requirement in Canada is a Masters degree… in Australia, most clinicians have been prepared at the bachelor level. Some new Masters entry programs are currently in development, but Bachelors-trained professionals will still meet the minimum entry-to-practice requirements.
  
  
• CASLPA has approximately 4,500 members…. Speech Pathology Australia has approximately 2,700 members.
  
  
• CASLPA's National Office rents space…. Speech Pathology Australia owns the office building which houses it's National Office (in Melbourne).
  
  
• CASLPA has adopted a Carver Model of Governance, and employs staff in the National Office to hold accountability for key organizational areas (Publications, Standards, etc.)….the Australian National Councillors each carry key portfolio responsibilities and chair national committees (Government liaison, Marketing and Public Relations, Membership Standards, Professional Practice/Standards & Workplace, Publications & Information Technology, Research & Continuing Professional Development, Finance).
  
  
• CASLPA is a distinct association body from the provincial/territorial associations and licensing bodies…. In Australia, only one state (Queensland) requires licensure for Speech-Language Pathologists to practice (all the other jurisdictions require membership in the national association). Individual state associations are chapters of the National Association.
  
  
• In addition to a national conference, Speech Pathology Australia sponsors a Speaker's Tour (every 2-3 years), where they bring in a highly respected, state-of- the-art speaker and send them on "tour" around the country, to present the same workshop in a number of locations.
  
  
• CASLPA engages the services of a private meeting management company to assist in organizing its conferences… Speech Pathology Australia's conference organizer is a member of the national office staff.
  
  
• CASLPA is involved in, but does not oversee or administer accreditation reviews of Canadian University training programs…. Speech Pathology Australia conducts a type of accreditation (they call it negotiation) of all University training programs, and approve the curriculum and clinical practica as meeting the entry-to-practice requirements; since membership in the national association is required to secure a position everywhere except Queensland, the Universities must obtain this approval in order for their graduates to be eligible to work. The Standards division of Speech Pathology Australia employs and trains negotiators on each University faculty, who then are available to assist with negotiations at their home University and review negotiations at other Universities. This process is considered crucial to establishing and nurturing common standards across training programs in Australia.
  
  
• CASLPA produces a scientific journal (JSLPA) from our national office… Speech Pathology Australia sunsetted their national scientific journal in 1997, and has just recently launched a new (outsourced) journal, which is edited and distributed internationally through Singular Publishing.
  
  
• CASLPA's usual conference program does not have a theme, and is a mix of invited speakers (spanning a comprehensive range of special focus areas for both professions) and contributed papers… The Speech Pathology Australia conference began each morning with a large group assembly, featuring one or more keynote addresses by speakers (the majority from outside the profession) addressing the conference theme ("Research, Reflect, Renew…."). The remainder of the program featured contributed paper presentations and posters (divided into thematic tracks), and "Master Classes" - a series of meetings throughout the conference week, led by the same instructor, with readings between each meeting. Speech Pathology Australia also holds an annual memorial lecture, featuring an innovative researcher from within the profession.
  
  
• In Canada, we currently offer Masters training in Speech Pathology at 8 Universities, and Audiology training at 5; approximately 200 new clinicians graduate from these training programs each year. There are 7 established University training programs in Australia, with 3 new ones scheduled to begin within the next couple of years. Graduating class sizes range from 20 to 100, (at least 300 new graduates per year nationally).
  
  
• CASLPA offers a national certification program, contingent upon passing a written exam, and meeting minimum clinical practice hours across a range of disorders and practice-types, and maintained by accumulating continuing education credits; certified CASLPA members pay the same annual membership rates as non-certified members…Speech Pathology Australia has just launched a "Professional Self Regulation" program, which is effectively the same as our continuing education registry, which entitles their members to call themselves "certified"; clinicians maintain a portfolio of their professional development activities and pay a small annual administrative fee to have this information entered into their membership database.
  
  
• CASLPA has not raised its membership fees (for full members) in the past 10 years… Speech Pathology Australia votes on a complete schedule of fees, presented to the members by the councilor responsible for finance, at its AGM each year; their common practice is to raise fees for all membership categories by 2-3% each year to cover cost-of- living (and office operations) increases.

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