Australia V Spain – Comparing Disability Employment to drive Innovative Change

Community Bridging Services (CBS) Inc., in partnership with Disability Employment Australia (DEA), The South Australian Council on Intellectual Disability (SACID), and Fundacion Prodis in Spain, is proud to announce an exciting national forum to impact the future of Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA), formerly Disability Employment Services (DES) and NDIS supports in Australia. Proudly sponsored by B-Hart, this unique event will bring together thought leaders, service providers, and people with lived experience from both Australia and Europe.

The forum will be an interactive and engaging exchange of innovative successes, new ideas, and actions to improve the way we deliver disability employment and NDIS services. By comparing Australian practices with those in Spain and the wider European Union, the event will spark fresh thinking and collaboration to ensure better outcomes for people with disability.

CBS Inc. Founder and Executive Director Freddie Brincat said, “There are many employers in business and within governments at all levels that get diversity and inclusion. These are people who understand the benefits, hard work, commitment and improved productivity people with a disability bring to their workforce and teams, but more still don’t get this today. There are lots of policies on diversity and inclusion but still not enough actions and measuring of the impact of such policies.  It’s what I call glass sliding doors where people with a disability are allowed to see in, but those sliding doors are still somewhat jammed. Maybe the EU and Spain with their emphasis on quotas to include people with disability can help us see alternatives to open these doors and this is what this Forum will hope to achieve.”

The forum will be opened by Louise Miller-Frost MP, Member for Boothby, with expert presenters and panel members, both with and without disability. They will provide well-rounded insights into what works well in both parts of the world. Louise said, “‘As a representative of the Albanese Labor Government and with a background working in the community sector space, I am proud to be presenting. This forum provides a unique opportunity to learn from global best practice, challenge our current systems, and work together to remove the barriers that still hold too many Australians with disability back from meaningful employment.”

Key speaker, Marta Navarro Milián, from Fundacion Prodis in Spain said, “With my experience I have been actively involved in the impact of policies, supports and innovations having real positive change on improving the lives of people with a disability. Government policies that may seem too strong to some e.g. quotas in employment, have led to progressive new pathways to jobs and careers. Such policies and actions have also increased access to greater opportunities in post school and university education for people with a disability, including those with an intellectual disability.”

Together, with input from those attending, we will explore our current employment and NDIS strategies from both consumer and service provider perspectives, highlighting where the systems are succeeding and where there’s room for innovation and improvement.

Event Details:
Friday 29 August 2025
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Adelaide Pavilion

For media enquiries, please contact:

Freddie Brincat
Founder and Executive Director, CBS Inc.
0417 882 405
08 8224 2903