Mobile and community occupational therapist, speech pathologist and physio jobs in Australia: travel, cars, pay and safety

Written by Callum Trevorrow. Last checked 28 October 2026 against official sources.

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In a mobile National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) role, the 2026-27 provider travel price limits are A$97.00 an hour for OTs and speech pathologists and A$92.00 an hour for physiotherapists (national rates, NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27); under the 2025-26 claiming rules, the latest the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has published, a practice can bill your travel time at up to half the therapy price limit, within per-client time caps (see below). How much of that travel your employer pays you for, and what it pays for your car, is set by your contract and any award or agreement, not by the NDIS.

So a mobile role has two sets of rules: what the practice can claim, and what you’re paid. This page sets out both, plus the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) rules on cars and the safety duty your employer has when you work alone in clients’ homes.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. For your own arrangement, check with the Fair Work Ombudsman, the ATO or an accountant. I’ve worked in community and in rural hospitals as a physio, and I now run a multi-site paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland.

What the practice can bill for travel (NDIS)

The 2026-27 hourly price limits, from the NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (effective 1 July 2026). The provider travel items are the 2026-27 travel limits; the rules for when and how much travel can be claimed are the 2025-26 ones below. These are maximums, not what every practice charges:

The government is consulting on different price limits for registered and unregistered providers; the NDIA’s 2026-27 Annual Pricing Review recommended they start on 1 January 2027, so these figures may change.

These are the most a provider can charge a participant’s plan. They’re not what you’re paid.

The travel rules (2025-26 Pricing Arrangements)

The detailed travel rules below are from the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2025-26 (version 1.1, valid from 24 November 2025). At 28 October 2026 the NDIA says the 2025-26 Pricing Arrangements remain the latest published claiming guidance and that it “will shortly publish updated pricing and claiming guidance documents”, so check the Pricing Arrangements page before relying on these rules.

• Therapy travel time can be claimed at up to 50% of the relevant price limit (the 2026-27 travel items above are half the direct-service limits, rounded to the cent).
• Travel time is capped at up to 30 minutes each way per participant in MMM 1–3 areas (on the Modified Monash Model, Australia’s remoteness scale) and up to 60 minutes in MMM 4–5. There’s no time cap in MMM 6–7 (remote and very remote).
• Non-labour costs: in 2025-26, up to A$0.99 per kilometre for a provider- or worker-owned vehicle, plus tolls, parking and fares up to the full amount. The 50% cap doesn’t reduce these.
• Travel can only be claimed when the support itself is face to face, and the participant must agree to travel costs in advance.

What this means for you: on a run of short city visits, a practice can claim up to 30 minutes of your travel each way per client. If your actual drive is longer, the practice can’t claim the extra. Ask how the practice schedules visits and whether it groups clients by area, because that affects how much of your day is travel.

By profession

• Occupational therapists: A$193.99 an hour direct, A$97.00 travel (national). The OT and speech limits are the same. Your registration is with the Occupational Therapy Board (Ahpra); see OT jobs in Australia.
• Speech pathologists: the same limits as OT. To deliver NDIS supports through a registered NDIS provider, you need Certified Practising status with Speech Pathology Australia. Registered NDIS providers, and their employees and contractors, must hold it. See Certified Practising, not Ahpra.
• Physiotherapists: A$183.99 an hour direct and A$92.00 travel (national). That’s A$10 an hour less than the OT and speech limits for direct service nationally (A$14 remote, A$15 very remote), and A$5 less for travel (A$7 remote, A$7.50 very remote). On the same travel-heavy schedule, the most a practice can bill for a physio’s visits is lower. Your registration is with the Physiotherapy Board (Ahpra); see physio jobs in Australia.

What you’re paid: check your contract, the award and the Fair Work Ombudsman

Whether the time you spend driving between clients counts as paid work time depends on your contract, the award or agreement that covers you, and how your day is set up. I’m not going to guess at that for you. Ask the employer in writing, and if you’re unsure, check with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

What the Health Professionals and Support Services Award (MA000027) does say about cars and travel:

• Clause 23.3(h)(i): a vehicle allowance is payable when your employer requires and authorises you to use your own car. The current award rate is A$1.01 per kilometre (Fair Work Commission, award text checked 28 October 2026). Award rates change, so check the award or the Fair Work Ombudsman’s pay guide rather than relying on an old contract. The award rate is above the ATO’s 91 cents per kilometre rate for 2026-27 (see below), so the two figures aren’t the same thing.
• Clause 23.3(h)(ii): reasonable fares, meals and accommodation are reimbursed when you travel on duty and the employer can’t provide transport.

Clause numbers are from the 2024 consolidated award text, so check the current version.

Your car and tax (ATO)

• A car allowance is income. The ATO says: “If you receive an allowance from your employer for car expenses, you must include it as assessable income in your tax return.”
• A cents per kilometre payment is an allowance, not a reimbursement. A reimbursement pays your actual costs, such as the petrol you used.
• Withholding: your employer doesn’t have to withhold tax on a cents per kilometre allowance paid at or below the ATO rate for up to 5,000 business kilometres. It withholds on any excess above the ATO rate, on kilometres over 5,000, and on allowances for non-deductible travel such as home to work. Because the award’s A$1.01 is above the ATO’s 91 cents, an allowance paid at the award rate can have tax withheld on the difference. How that plays out for you is a question for your accountant.
• Claiming your car costs: you claim your own work-related car expenses separately, with one of two methods:
  • Cents per kilometre: 91 cents per kilometre for 2026-27 (88 cents for 2024-25 and 2025-26), up to 5,000 work kilometres per car per year. The rate covers all car expenses, so you can’t claim anything else for that car on top.
  • Logbook: the work-related percentage of your actual car costs, backed by a logbook kept for a continuous period of at least 12 weeks (valid for 5 years) and receipts.

If you drive a lot for work, the 5,000 km cap on the cents per kilometre method matters, and the logbook method may suit you better. That’s a question for an accountant. For how a car allowance changes the value of an offer, see the worked example in comparing two job offers.

Working alone in clients’ homes: your employer’s duty

Under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld), s 48, the business that engages you must manage the risks of remote or isolated work, and “must provide a system of work that includes effective communication with the worker”. Remote or isolated work means work “isolated from the assistance of other persons because of location, time or the nature of the work”.

WorkSafe Queensland names “health and community workers working in isolation with members of the public” as an example, and says a client’s home is a workplace for community workers who visit. The controls it lists include:

• a call-in, check-in or sign-off system
• a buddy system for high-risk visits, for example where there’s a risk of violence
• tracking devices and personal duress alarms
• emergency communication that works where you’ll be
• training in situational risk assessment

This duty sits with the employer, not with you. In an interview, ask what the practice’s lone-worker system is, who you call if a visit goes wrong, and whether you can decline or reschedule a visit you think is unsafe.

New to Australia? Three things to sort before a mobile role

A mobile role puts you in your own car and in clients’ homes from week one, so these checks come earlier than in a clinic job. Each has its own page; this is the short version.

• Your driver licence. On a temporary visa you can drive in Queensland on a valid overseas licence, and the Queensland Government page sets no time limit for that. On a permanent (resident) visa you must transfer to a Queensland licence after 3 months living here. A licence not in English needs a recognised English translation. If you hold (or held in the last 5 years) a UK, Irish, New Zealand, Canadian or US car licence, you don’t sit the road rules or practical test to transfer; a South African licence needs both. See Queensland driver licence by country.
• The NDIS Worker Screening Check. At a registered NDIS provider, risk-assessed roles, including roles delivering supports directly to people with disability, need a clearance, and Queensland applies “no card, no start”. It costs A$147 for paid workers (A$162 combined with a blue card), you can pay it or defer the fee to the employer, and a clearance lasts 5 years. Unregistered providers don’t have to require it. See NDIS for overseas therapists.
• The blue card (working with children). OTs and physios working in their profession don’t need one while their Ahpra registration is current. Speech pathologists aren’t Ahpra-registered, so the Department of Education asks speech pathologists for a blue card. The NDIS check is separate and has no Ahpra exemption. See school-based therapists in Queensland.

Questions to ask before you accept a mobile role

1. Is travel time between clients paid work time, and is it counted in any client-hours target?
2. Do I use my own car? If so, what allowance is paid, at what rate per kilometre, and is it at least the award rate if the award covers me?
3. Is there a pool car, and who pays for fuel, tolls and parking?
4. How are visits grouped, and how many clients a day is typical?
5. What’s the lone-worker system, and what happens after hours?
6. Who pays for my equipment, phone and resources carried between visits?

Your next step

• Occupational therapists: check how many of your hours would be NDIS travel, and ask whether your travel time counts towards any target.
• Speech pathologists: check your Speech Pathology Australia Certified Practising status is current, and ask how the practice handles travel for school or home visits.
• Physiotherapists: remember the NDIS travel limit for physio is A$5 an hour below the OT and speech limit (national), so ask how that’s reflected in any travel-heavy schedule.
• Still overseas? Registration or assessment comes before any job offer, and the pathway check shows which pathway applies to where you qualified.
• Everyone: get the car arrangement and the travel-time rule in writing before you sign, and keep a logbook from day one if you’ll drive a lot.

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