The organisation, which provides hearing services and research for children who are deaf or have hearing loss, has been targeted by the Department of Finance since last year for possible privatisation. The move was recommended by the Commission of Audit and announced last year.

Bendigo South East Year 7 student Max Shanahan was born with hearing loss and was 3 months old when he was fitted with his first hearing aid by Australian Hearing Services.

Max’s mother Melanie Shanahan said she was worried privatisation would lead to parents having to shell out for their children’s hearing needs. 

“Certainly for some families that won’t be an issue but for others it will be a huge issue and children will be disadvantaged,” she said. 

She said if parents had to foot the bill for their children’s hearing aids, they may be forced to make decisions based on cost, rather than the best outcome for the child. 

“Hearing aids alone are usually around $4000; when you add everything up it’s a huge expense,” she said. 

“I’m also really worried about service provision to regional communities because the risk in privatisation is that everything will be centralised to a metro place.”

Ms Shanahan praised the professionalism and compassion of Australian Hearing Services staff and gave her full support to the service. 

“Australia is the only country in the world that provides free hearing services to children which is just wonderful,” she said.

Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters said retention of the service was essential to allowing hearing impaired children realise their potential. 

“It’s about creating that equal opportunity and ensuring that every young person has the tools they need to learn to grow, to become whatever they choose to be and cost isn’t a barrier,” she said.

Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann said any change in ownership of Australian Hearing would not affect eligibility or funding of the Community Service Obligation hearing services, including consultations in remote communities. A scoping study says it is determining the future ownership of the service.