17/01/2026
Thank you to the eloquent Square Peg Round Whole Public PAGE for bringing this issue to the attention of politicians. We need to do better and support autistic voices.
An open letter regarding the latest National Autism Strategy Grant Round;
Dear Ministers and Decision Makers
Please consider this a formal complaint/ concern regarding government administrative and financial processes as well as a letter of concern relating to National Autism Strategy delivery.
On behalf of Square Peg Round Whole and our community of Autistic people, families, allies, and supporters, we write to express grave concern regarding the current National Autism Strategy (NAS) grant rounds and to call for immediate corrective action.
These grant rounds have been released through invitation-only processes that explicitly name invited organisations, with application deadlines now imminent. If left uncorrected, funding decisions will be finalised under a process that is in direct contradiction of the National Autism Strategy itself, Australia’s disability policy framework, and the Commonwealth’s own grants obligations.
The National Autism Strategy already identifies this exact issue. The National Autism Strategy First Action Plan (2025-26) explicitly commits the Commonwealth to reforming grant processes to address precisely the problem now occurring.
Under Commitment 3, Action 2, the Government commits to:
“Evaluate government grants management to ensure how information and processes relating to grant opportunities can be communicated and designed in ways that are accessible to Autistic people.”
This Action further specifies that the evaluation will inform the development of grant processes that include:
“Provide transparency of grant round purposes and processes.”
“Support to apply for grants.”
These are not aspirational statements. They are concrete commitments that the Government has already agreed to implement.
The current NAS grant rounds do the opposite.
Closed, invitation-only processes that exclude autistic-led and grassroots organisations from even applying cannot be described as accessible, transparent, or supportive. They represent a clear failure to implement an action already committed to in the First Action Plan.
Review of the published GrantConnect documents for shows a consistent and troubling pattern.
Across all three grant rounds, the majority of invited organisations are not autistic-led. Instead, invitees are predominantly:
• large autism and disability service providers,
• research institutions and sector bodies,
• professional-controlled advocacy organisations, and
• in one case, a commercial awareness brand.
Only a very small number of invited organisations are governed and led by autistic people.
This outcome is not incidental. It is the predictable result of an invitation-only process that privileges institutional familiarity over lived-experience leadership.
This breaches disability rights obligations
Under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and General Comment No.7, governments are required to distinguish between:
- organisations of persons with disabilities (led and governed by disabled people), and
- organisations for persons with disabilities (including service providers, charities, research bodies and commercial entities).
The UN Committee has repeatedly warned that organisations for people with disability must not substitute for organisations of people with disability in representation, consultation, or decision-making, due to conflicts of interest and the dilution of lived-experience leadership.
By designing NAS grants that overwhelmingly privilege organisations for autistic people over organisations of autistic people, the current process is incompatible with these obligations.
This also breaches domestic policy and grants rules.
The current approach conflicts with:
the National Autism Strategy’s guiding principle of “Nothing about us, without us”;
Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021 - 2031, which requires removal of systemic barriers and improved economic participation; and
the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles, which require grants to be administered in a manner that is transparent, equitable, ethical, and not unfairly advantageous to particular applicants. Invitation-only grants are intended to be exceptional, not the default mechanism for delivering a national policy framework.
Urgent action is required - now
Given the imminent closing dates, this matter cannot be deferred to future rounds, evaluations, or post-hoc reviews.
We therefore call on the responsible decision-makers to:
1. Immediately pause or amend the current NAS grant rounds to prevent funding decisions being finalised under a flawed process;
2. Rectify these specific grants by reopening them to open, competitive access or issuing amended rounds that genuinely prioritise autistic-led organisations and those at a community level;
3. Investigate how invited organisations were selected, including the criteria applied and how conflicts of interest were assessed; and
4. Implement preventative measures to ensure all future NAS grants comply with the National Autism Strategy, its First Action Plan (including Commitment 3, Action 2), Australia’s Disability Strategy, the CRPD, and the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles.
This is not a technical or administrative issue. Grant funding determines who is resourced, who employs staff, who builds organisational capacity, and who holds influence in shaping policy and practice.
A National Autism Strategy that systematically excludes autistic-led and community representative organisations from funding and leadership is not being implemented in good faith. The Government’s own Action Plan has already identified this issue. The responsibility now is to act on it.
Failure to intervene immediately will cause lasting damage to trust in the National Autism Strategy and undermine the Government’s stated commitments to co-design, transparency and human rights.
I look forward to your prompt response and confirmation of action taken to rectify this egregious situation.
Square Peg Round Whole will be supporting our community in their respectful direct advocacy on this matter, which has understandably caused much distress and concern, and will be publicly sharing this and any responding communications in hopes that open communication will assist in creating community understanding and confidence that this important issue is being urgently addressed.
Yours Sincerely,
Symone Wheatley-Hey (autistic National Coordinator)
Square Peg Round Whole”
