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Mrs Walker said she would also like to see training in autistic spectrum disorders made a stand-alone
mandatory unit in all university teaching courses.
“We're hearing stories from teachers and parents alike who have no idea how to handle this,” Mrs
Walker said.
She is especially nervous about the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the bush.
“They can roll out the NDIS next year - but it’s not going to work in the bush if we don't have the services to begin with.”
Fight for numbers
IN its 45 years the ICPA has gone national, with NSW sporting the second highest number of branches its 28 trailing only Queensland.
But like many rural service groups the NSW ICPA is slowly losing members.
The groups says there are about 980 pushing the barrow at the moment.
“It’s declined a little bit each year I've been president, much like the declining population in the bush,”
Mrs Treweeke said.
“When every dollar counts, parents have to priorities things. If children need money for education, of
course they are going to drop a couple of memberships.”
Mrs Treweeke said people often asked whether it was worthwhile living so far away.
“You do run into that attitude. I find a lot of people don't understand the bush.
“But I was born and bred in the country. It's my life, like it is for a lot of people
“And then there’s the question of who is going to clothe and feed you? Do you want us to import everything?”
Sarnia Walker offers her own thoughts:
“It’d be a bit hard to run our cattle in the CBD.”
Mrs Treweeke said she admired the work of the CWA of NSW as well as the various local school P and C
groups, and said she was always looking for ways to work together.
“I think families are often scared to talk to big organisations,” she said. “They trust groups like us, they
trust us with their problems and information. That's why we're here. To give people that.”
Annual conference
The ICPA Louth branch will host the 2017 state conference in Bourke on March 29 and 30 next year.
Conference convenors Annabel Strachan and Samantha Mooring can be contacted via [email protected] and [email protected].