Disability Employment Australia’s Conference is presented by Disability Employment Australia.
The 2019 conference was held on 28-29 August 2019 at Crown Perth.
View the program here
View the 2019 presentations here
View the photo gallery here
Our 2019 national conference is the ideal gathering of those central and significant to the future planning and future proofing of disability employment policy, design, model and practice. And that means you!
DEA’s annual conference is a significant opportunity for you to engage directly with what is going on in disability and employment policy, programs and practice. This year, we have two jam-packed days of the latest sector developments, program best practice ideas, and big picture thinking.
First up, we want to highlight our breakout sessions. A conference will always have impressive keynote speakers and panels. However, the engine room of the conference is the breakout sessions. There is a lot going on during these sessions and DEA is fairly chuffed at the range of experts that applied to present at this year’s conference.
DEA is excited to have Nova Employment’s internationally-recognised ‘Focus on Ability’ Film Festival providing a number of short films exploring the value of employment. This session will set the scene for the conference.
We explore the future of work and its impact on people with disability with an excellent panel and a presentation on the hot-off-the-press Deloitte’s report on the future of work. We will ask how the DES program and other employment initiatives respond to potential changes and impacts on the labour market.
The NDIS Employment Participation Taskforce will provide a review of the work they are doing and further work they have planned. This will include a consideration of the value of SLES, from both NDIA’s and a DES provider’s perspective.
We will also take stock of the many recent developments in Australian disability policy. In the last year Australia has delivered key regulatory and national responses to disability services and frameworks. These include the introduction of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and the very important Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. In February the Productivity Commission handed down its report on the National Disability Agreement while the government is currently reviewing the National Disability Strategy. We will explore what all this means to disability employment assistance providers (DES, NDIS, ADEs and jobactive). We will tackle these high level policy and practices as they directly intersect with providers, emphasising the critical importance of building choice, control and a person-centred approach across disability services. The DEA conference is an ideal way to learn more about these matters.
And there’s more! We will focus on the state of the new DES, at the moment of the first public star ratings. Plus we are going straight to the source! We have a DSS DES panel comprising of DSS DES bureaucrats to take up your questions.
We have invited employers to talk to us about what they identify as good engagement and what can and must be improved. We can learn from employer perspectives. It is the critical development required to boost employment outcomes and the workforce participation rates for people with disability.
As you know, the pulse of the conference is networking. The program is the driver of discussions across breaks and drinks, coffee catch-ups and the gala dinner. Representatives from DSS, NDIA and the Department of Employment will be at the conference so take your opportunity to network with our peers in those departments and agencies.
This is your chance to be involved and have your voice heard!
The 2019 Conference Handbook can be downloaded here.
Disability Employment Australia’s Conference is Australasia’s premier conference for managers, aspiring managers, practitioners, and academics working in or with the Disability Employment Services sector.
Anyone with an interest in employment assistance for people with disability including:
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