Human Rights Day Symposium

The future of disability services starts here. Will you be part of it?

Date: Wednesday, 10 December 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM ACDT
Location: Evergreen Community Precinct, Gordon Ave, Clearview SA 5085
(Fully accessible venue)

It’s time to do more than talk about rights, it’s time to live them.

The disability sector is changing, fast. The future is rights-based, inclusive, and unapologetically human.

Get ready for a day of big ideas, bold conversations, and real action. You’ll hear from leading voices across sectors, and including government, academia and lived-experience perspectives who are shaping what disability service provision will look like in the years to come.

If you’re a service provider, policy shaper, or community leader, you can’t afford to sit this one out.

Agenda Highlights

Hon Nat Cook, Minister for Human Services

• Welcoming keynote 

Natalie Wade, Associate Commissioner - NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Commission:

• A Rights-based Future for Disability Services in Australia - A forward-looking talk focusing on how the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, providers, and communities can embed human rights more deeply into service design and delivery. 

Dr Alinka Fisher, Senior Lecturer – Flinders University 

• Human Rights in Action: Embedding Rights-based Behaviour Support Across Disability Services - Exploring how the foundations of behaviour support and specialist behaviour support services can uphold dignity and autonomy, moving beyond compliance to create service cultures that prioritise a person’s rights.   

Michael Hicks, Principal Adviser, Disability Policy and Reform – DHS 

• Homes Not Houses: Embedding Human Rights in Disability Housing Policy - Exploring how housing policy and design can promote inclusion, independence, and belonging, reframing accommodation as a foundation for rights and participation.  

Panel Discussion:
Human Rights in Action: Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities for Autonomy and Participation - A cross-sector discussion on how services can better uphold the rights, autonomy, and inclusion of people with disability and what needs to change to make those rights real in everyday practice. 

• Peter Bacon, CEO - Disability Employment Australia  

• Dr John Brayley, Chief Psychiatrist – SA Health 

• Pouya Farbod, Founder and CEO – B-HART 

• Skye Kakoschke-Moore, CEO - Children and Young People with Disability Australia 

• Michelle Ryan, Artistic Director – Restless Dance Theatre 

LUNCH

Performance by Restless Dance Theatre

Katrina Webb OAM, Paralympian and Founder - Newday Leadership

• Be the Change: Leading with Human Rights at Heart - How authentic, values-based leadership can drive cultural and systemic change and how each of us can “be the change” within our sphere of influence.  

Panel Discussion:
Human Rights Leadership at Every Level: The Role We Can All Play - Beginning with the issue of forced sterilisation, this panel explores how authentic, rights-based leadership can drive accountability, courage, and action to ensure human rights are truly lived. 

• Freddie Brincat OAM, Executive Director - Community Bridging Services Inc 

• Margie Charlesworth, Communication Access Consultant - Two Way Street

• Cassie Day, Business Advisor, NDIS Consultant, Keynote Speaker and Emcee

• Sarah McInnes, Policy & Project Officer - Physical Disability Australia

• Katrina Webb OAM, Paralympian and Founder - Newday Leadership

NETWORKING DRINKS (In person attendees)

Why you need to be there

• Gain insights from Australia’s most influential voices driving rights-based reform.

• Connect with fellow professionals, advocates, and community leaders who are shaping the sector’s future.

• Engage in thought-provoking discussions that challenge the status quo.

• Experience a day of networking, learning, and empowerment with morning tea, lunch, and networking drinks included.

• Walk away inspired and equipped to lead change in your organisation and community.

Can’t join us in person?

No problem, be part of the movement from anywhere in the world. Register to watch the full symposium live with captions included.
Registered online attendees will receive a private link before the event.

Tickets are limited - don’t wait.

Every ticket sold helps fuel a national and international conversation that’s long overdue.
Join us on 10 December 2025 and help turn principles into practice.

Secure your ticket now, before they’re gone.

Major Sponsors

Tibii Disability Support Services
Tibii is redefining disability support through a human rights lens, empowering individuals to live with dignity, independence, and inclusion across South Australia and Victoria.

Community Bridging Services (CBS) Inc.
Since 1996, CBS Inc. has been empowering people with disability or disadvantage to achieve their goals through employment, education, recreation, and NDIS supports, building a more equitable South Australia for all.