The NSW HACC Development Officer's (HACC DOs) Network includes workers funded through the Home and Community Care (HACC) Program as a 'HACC Development Officer' for specific Local Government Areas (LGAs) within HACC regions (see HACC DO Contacts).

The HACC DOs Network is a structure through which HACC DOs arrange to meet for mutual support and the exchange of information, including developments relating specifically to the HACC Program. Representatives of the NSW HACC Program administrators, NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) are often invited (or request invitations) to provide guest speakers at Network conferences, as does the HACC Policy Worker from the New South Wales Council of Social Services (NCOSS), who gives a regular State report.

The Network does not include Local Government/Council community workers aged and disability, peak bodies or those involved in directs service provision, although the Network does liaise with these groups, where appropriate.

The Network aims are:

• To provide a forum for sharing information and knowledge;
• To co-ordinate strategies for HACC service development and support of the HACC Program reform agenda;
• To provide opportunities to link with key people in all levels of Government;
• To analyse and comment on policy proposals and discussion papers, where appropriate;
• To assess the impacts on the community care sector of relevant government policy utilising regional knowledge and experience;
• To keep HACC Development Officers informed of policy developments and allow them to be proactive in assessing and addressing the impacts;
• To facilitate collective comment and feedback on issues relating to the HACC target group;
• To identify issues common across the State and work towards development and presentation of a statewide perspective, where appropriate;
• To identify and share common issues and differences between HACC regions, including differences between metropolitan and rural areas;
• To facilitate collaborative problem-solving of issues;
• To encourage individual HACC DOs to share their skills and experiences with others in the Network;
• To help identify examples of best practice in community development and HACC service provision generally;
• To promote the work of HACC DOs and provide a point of contact for HACC DOs, as a Network and individually;
• To put issues specifically relating to the work of HACC Development Officers on the agenda;
• To address specialist training needs of HACC Development Officers by purchasing training for the Network group, where appropriate; and
• To reduce isolation and allow mutual support and mentoring of individual HACC Development Officers.

Up until 2002, individual Network members accepted responsibility for organising each of these conference gatherings (generally twice yearly), which produced an obvious cost in time, administration and postage for their respective projects. Those HACC DOs who attended had shared the cost of the conference venue, and paid for their own meals, travel and accommodation. Unfortunately, this cost prevented some workers from attending all conferences, especially the rural workers, who are arguably the most isolated and in need of such gatherings.

In 2000, amidst HACC Reforms, competing deadlines and changing expectations of the HACC services and local networks' support by HACC DOs, the HACC DOs Network approached NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care to seek recurrent funding for their meetings, believing that closer contact between HACC Development Officers across NSW was crucial. One-off funds in 2002 were used for a series of meetings and to initiative a number of projects, including this website.