{"id":5782,"date":"2025-09-09T08:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T08:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/?page_id=5782"},"modified":"2025-09-09T09:14:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:14:40","slug":"steering-committees","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/steering-committees\/","title":{"rendered":"Steering Committees"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Steering Committees<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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What We do<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Working Animals Federation of Australia (WAFA) supports the growth, safety, and integrity of the working animal sector. We bring people together, raise standards, and create opportunities for meaningful change. WAFA will:<\/p>

  • Offer voluntary credentials for professionals, including trainers, assessors, allied health professionals and training organisations \u2014 promoting trust, recognition, and high standards.<\/li>
  • Maintain a set of professional codes, charters, guidelines, policies, procedures, and professional standards which form the basis of our ethical review system, helping to safeguard both animal welfare and human rights.<\/li>
  • Provide professional tools and guidance, including policy templates, best-practice resources, and training frameworks.<\/li>
  • Support public access testing through a network of WAFA-credentialed professionals to ensure safe and consistent practice.<\/li>
  • Maintain a national database of WAFA-credentialed professionals, endorsed qualifications, continuing professional development (CPD) courses, and qualified supervisors.<\/li>
  • Run sector-wide projects and programs, such as public education campaigns, national events, and community resources.<\/li>
  • Develop and share publications, including fact sheets, discussion papers, and research reports that reflect the diverse voices of our sector.<\/li>
  • Provide opportunities for various professionals, including handlers, trainers, assessors, allied health professionals, and training organisations to share their knowledge and experience through our platform.<\/li>
  • Promote evidence-based practice through data collection, research partnerships, and support for innovation.<\/li>
  • Encourage collaboration, bringing together handlers, professionals, researchers, advocates, and policymakers to build shared solutions.<\/li>
  • Support inclusive, handler-led training pathways, including self-training, hybrid, and community-based models.<\/li>
  • Connect people with supports, including linking handlers to qualified professionals or peer mentors.<\/li>
  • Provide individual and systemic advocacy, helping address discrimination, improve access, and shape better policies.<\/li>
  • Facilitate accessible learning opportunities, including webinars, peer mentoring, and continuing professional development.<\/li>
  • Centre lived experience, especially of people with disability, First Nations communities, and others often excluded from mainstream systems.<\/li>
  • Uphold animal welfare and ethical practice as core values in everything we do.<\/li>
  • Operate transparently and independently, without bias, commercial interests, or political agendas.<\/li>
  • Support sustainability and workforce development, working toward long-term capacity building, training pipelines, and professional recognition.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    What We Don\u2019t Do<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    WAFA supports high standards, ethics, and collaboration \u2014 but we also respect individual choice and stay within our role.<\/p>

    • We don\u2019t recommend or endorse specific trainers, assessors, or organisations \u2014 we remain independent and impartial.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t limit support to paid members \u2014 our mission is inclusive, and many of our resources are free or low-cost.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t require anyone to join \u2014 our credentials, programs, and tools are 100% voluntary.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t certify working animals directly \u2014 instead, we support standards and professional public access testing through recognised assessors.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t replace government regulation or legal advice \u2014 we complement official systems with professional frameworks and advocacy.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t interfere in disputes between individuals or organisations unless they involve a breach of our ethical standards.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t provide direct training services or funding \u2014 but we connect handlers with qualified professionals and useful resources.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t compromise on animal welfare or handler rights \u2014 both are central to our purpose.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t tell people what breed or type of animal to use \u2014 we support diverse needs, handler-led decisions, and flexibility in training approaches.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t police informal, emerging, or grassroots models \u2014 we offer guidance and support for those who choose to engage.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t issue legal identification cards or documents \u2014 our credentials are professional, not legal proof of access rights.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t restrict self-trained or owner-trained assistance animals \u2014 we advocate for safe, ethical, handler-led pathways.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t represent pets or companion animals \u2014 our focus is on purpose-trained working animals.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t make NDIS or funding decisions \u2014 but we support individuals through information, advocacy, and referrals.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t make AHRC or discrimination decisions \u2014 but we support individuals through information, advocacy, and referrals.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t charge hidden fees or create unnecessary barriers \u2014 we are a not-for-profit committed to access and fairness.<\/li>
    • We don\u2019t speak over people with lived experience \u2014 we prioritise and amplify the voices of handlers, trainers, assessors, and people with disability in all we do.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Steering Committees What We do The Working Animals Federation of Australia (WAFA) supports the growth, safety, and integrity of the working animal sector. We bring people together, raise standards, and create opportunities for meaningful change. WAFA will: Offer voluntary credentials for professionals, including trainers, assessors, allied health professionals and training organisations \u2014 promoting trust, recognition, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5782","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5782"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5791,"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5782\/revisions\/5791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workinganimals.com.au\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}