1Name
This instrument is the Australian Hearing Services (Declared Hearing Services) Determination 2025.
This instrument is the Australian Hearing Services (Declared Hearing Services) Determination 2025.
This instrument is made under section 8 of the Australian Hearing Services Act 1991.
Section 8 of the Act sets out the functions of the Authority known as Australian Hearing Services. Under subsection 8(1), the Authority has the function of providing declared hearing services to: young Australians (paragraph (aa)); referred Comcare clients (paragraph (ab)); referred Commonwealth employees (paragraph (ac)); and designated persons (paragraph (ad)). This determination sets out the hearing services that are declared hearing services for the purposes of those paragraphs, under subsections 8(4), (5), (6) and (8) of the Act. This determination also specifies persons who are a designated person for the purposes of paragraph 8(1)(ad), under subsection 8(7) of the Act.
Some expressions used in this instrument are defined in the definitions section of the Act, including the following:
Authority
Young Australians.
In this instrument:
Aboriginal person has the meaning given by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005.
Act means the Australian Hearing Services Act 1991.
ASGS means the geographical framework known as the Australian Statistical Geography Standard, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
CDEP Program means the Community Development Employment Projects Program administered by the Department of Social Services that operated between 1 December 2005 and 30 June 2013.
CDP means the Community Development Program jointly administered by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, and subsequently the National Indigenous Australians Agency, that operated between 1 July 2015 and 31 October 2025 and was replaced by the RAES.
Comcare means the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission.
Department means the Department administered by the Minister administering the Hearing Services Administration Act 1997.
eligible for specialist hearing services: a person is eligible for specialist hearing services if, and only if, they are an eligible person who has:
a hearing loss where the average hearing threshold level for 0.5, 1 and 2 kilohertz (kHz) in the person’s better ear is greater than, or equal to, 80 decibels; or
hearing loss and communication difficulty that:
prevents the person from communicating effectively in their daily environment; or
is caused or aggravated by significant physical, intellectual, mental, emotional or social disability.
eligible person means a person who, under the Hearing Services Administration Act 1997, is an eligible person.
Modified Monash Model area 6 means all areas in Remoteness Area 4, as determined by the Department using ASGS data, that are not on a populated island that is separated from the mainland and is more than 5 kilometres offshore.
Modified Monash Model area 7 means all areas in Remoteness Area 5, as determined by the Department using ASGS data, that are on a populated island that is separated from the mainland and is more than 5 kilometres offshore.
parent in relation to a young Australian, includes a step‑parent, adoptive parent, foster parent or legal guardian of the young Australian.
Predecessor program of the RAES means the CDEP Program, CDP or the RJCP.
referred Comcare client has the meaning given by subsection 8(10) of the Act.
referred Commonwealth employee has the meaning given by subsection 8(10) of the Act.
RAES means the Remote Australia Employment Service administered by the National Indigenous Australians Agency that will commence operation on 1 November 2025.
RJCP means the Remote Jobs and Communities Program that operated between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2015, and was replaced by the CDP.
Torres Strait Islander has the meaning given by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005.
young adult means:
an Australian citizen who has turned 21 and who is under 26 years of age; or
an Australian permanent resident who has turned 21 and who is under 26 years of age.
young Australians means:
Australian citizens under 21 years of age; or
Australian permanent residents under 21 years of age.
A reference in this instrument to any hearing service does not include services which test for, treat and rehabilitate individuals who have Central Auditory Processing Disorder.
Central Auditory Processing Disorder is a deficit in the information processing of audible signals not attributed to impaired peripheral hearing sensitivity or intellectual impairment. This information processing involves perceptual, cognitive, and linguistic functions.
The below hearing services are declared hearing services. Not all specified persons are entitled to all declared hearing services. The ‘declared hearing services entitlement’ column in the table at section 7 indicates which specified persons are entitled to which declared hearing services.
Item | Sub‑item | Declared hearing services |
|---|---|---|
1. | (a) | Services that are necessary to assess and measure the nature and extent of any hearing loss in the person. |
(b) | Services that are necessary to determine the cause of any hearing loss in the person. | |
2. | Provision of any hearing device (other than a cochlear implant, or cochlear implant speech processor unit) that is: | |
(a) | clinically appropriate to the hearing loss, the person’s capacity to benefit from the device and his or her life circumstances; and is approved by the Authority. | |
(b) | clinically appropriate to the hearing loss, the person’s capacity to benefit from the device and his or her life circumstances. | |
3. | Provision of a replacement cochlear implant speech processor unit or bone conduction speech processor unit. | |
4. | Services necessary to fit, and monitor the suitability of, a selected hearing device and to achieve the maximum functionality of the device. | |
5. | (a) | Ongoing advice and assistance about rehabilitation to the extent necessary to enable the person to achieve a rehabilitation outcome commensurate with his or her needs. |
(b) | Provision of advice and support to the person’s parents, teachers and educational establishment on the management and support of the person concerning the hearing impairment. | |
(c) | Provision of advice and support to the person’s family and community on the management and support of the person in regard to their impairment. | |
6. | (a) | Provision of necessary repairs, adjustment and maintenance of a hearing device, including the reasonable provision of replacement batteries. |
(b) | Provision of necessary repairs, adjustment and maintenance of a hearing device, including the reasonable provision of replacement batteries for the first year. | |
7. | Other clinically necessary hearing services, if agreed between the Authority and Comcare as hearing services to be made available to referred Comcare clients in Class 3. | |
8. | Maintenance by the Authority of a hearing device issues to the person under paragraph 8(1)(aa) of the Act, but excluding: (i) replacement of major electronic components within a hearing device; (ii) provision of a battery for use in a hearing device; (iii) replacement of a hearing device that is lost or damaged; for the period of 5 years. The period of 5 years begins on the day when: (i) in the case of a person who turns 26, the person turns 26. (ii) in the case of a person who ceases to be a member of Class 6—the day the person ceases to be a member of Class 6. | |
9. | Replacement of a hearing device (other than a cochlear implant, or cochlear implant speech processor unit): (i) that has been: a. destroyed; or b. lost, and unlikely to be found; or c. damaged, and cannot be reasonably repaired; and (ii) if authorised by the Authority in accordance with regulation 4A of the Australian Hearing Services Regulations 1992. | |
10. | Provision of services, training and advice, in a culturally appropriate way, on matters of aural health and hygiene, including services, training and advice for the prevention and treatment of chronic conditions such as otitis media. Provision of specialised amplification devices to meet the particular needs of certain persons in this class of persons. | |
Note: Reference to Class in this table is a reference to the respective Class in the table in Section 7. | ||
The following classes of specified persons are eligible for declared hearing services as provided in the ‘declared hearing services entitlement’ column. Declared hearing services are defined in section 6. The declared hearing services entitlement column references items and sub‑items in the table in section 6.
Class | Persons to receive the hearing services | Declared hearing services entitlement |
|---|---|---|
1 | Young Australians and young adults. | 1(a), 2(a), 3, 4, |
2 | Referred Comcare clients generally. | 1(a)‑(b) |
3 | Referred Comcare client who, under an agreement between the Authority and Comcare, are persons to whom these hearing services are to be made available. | 1(a)‑(b), 2(b), 4, 5(a), 6(b), 7 |
4 | Referred Commonwealth employees generally. | 1(a) |
5 | A person who: a) has turned 26, and immediately before turning 26, was a young adult; or b) has ceased to be a member of Class 6. | 8 |
6 | An eligible person who: a) is eligible for specialist hearing services and not otherwise receiving services from the Authority as a voucher‑holder under the Hearing Services Administration Act 1997; or b) resides in, and receives their hearing services in, a place geographically within Modified Monash Model areas 6 or 7 and not otherwise receiving services from the Authority as a voucher‑holder under the Hearing Services Administration Act 1997. | 1(a), 2(a), 4, 5(a), 6(a), 9 |
7 | Aboriginal persons or Torres Strait Islanders who are: a) under 26; or b) over 50; or c) an eligible person and not otherwise receiving services from the Authority as a voucher‑holder under the Hearing Services Administration Act 1997; or d) a participant in the RAES; or e) a person who was a participant of a predecessor program of the RAES, and prior to ceasing participation in the predecessor program, had received or was part way through receiving one of more declared hearing services from the Authority. | 1(a), 2(a), 4, 5(a)‑(c), 6(a), 9, 10 |
For the purposes of paragraph 8(1)(ad) and subsection 8(7) of the Act, a person in one of the following classes is a designated person:
Class 1
Class 5;
Class 6; and
Class 7.
A designated person is considered eligible for services under the Community Service Obligations (CSO) component of the Australian Government Hearing Services Program.
The provision to a person of a service specified in an item mentioned in subsection (2) is subject to payment of the charge, if any, that is payable by the person under the Regulations made under subsection 77(1) of the Act for a service of that kind.
The items are:
in Class 1—declared hearing services 6(a);
in Class 3—declared hearing services 6(b);
in Class 6—declared hearing services 6(a) and 9; and
in Class 7—declared hearing services 6(a) and 9.