If safeguarding, quality or workforce compliance is part of your job, here's what we'd be watching.
The DSC Annual NDIS Conference 2026 runs 13-14 august at BCEC in Brisbane, and online. There are more than 25 sessions across two days. We went through the whole program to find the conversations that mean the most for safeguarding and compliance. Worker screening, incident reporting, quality systems, audit readiness.
Here's the nine we landed on.
DAY 1
10:50am | NDIS reform in motion Sara Gingold and Todd Winther, DSC
The framing session for everything that follows covering what's settled across the 2025-26 reform agenda, what's uncertain and what providers should be focusing on.
11:10am | Are you measuring up? Turning data into quality and safeguarding performance Garry Simpson, Ability Roundtable, and Evie Naufal, DSC
Benchmarking data on how providers are actually performing on quality and safeguarding, including which organisations are setting the standard and some that are at risk of falling behind. This session is a chance to stop guessing where you sit relative to the sector.
1:30pm | Beyond Compliance: using implementation science to drive quality and safeguarding Dr Jade McEwen
The gap between having a policy and having a practice is where most safeguarding failures actually live. The session is about closing it: how to embed change so it survives contact with a busy roster and stretched team to lead to quality outcomes.
2:20pm | Reducing risk and improving quality in high intensity support Natalie Donohoe, Premium Health
Explicitly about the link between workforce capability and participant safety, and what good looks like beyond minimum standards. Take away some practical approaches to embedding high quality, sustainable support.
DAY 2
9:10am | Building a stronger NDIS together: safeguarding participants and shaping the future Scott McNaughton, Deputy CEO Service Delivery, NDIA
The NDIA's own account of how it's approaching safeguarding across the support ecosystem, and what they're doing to strengthen participant outcomes. Useful for understanding where the Agency thinks provider responsibility starts and ends.
9:40am | NDIS Commission reform update: registration, regulation and what's ahead Louise Glanville, NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner, and Natalie Wade, Associate Commissioner
If you attend one session on this list, make it this one. Changes to registration and regulation, straight from the Commissioner, along with what providers should be preparing for next.
11:45am | Big safety and little safety Tristram Peters, Lee Archer and Sijan Dahal, Young People in Nursing Homes Alliance
Drawing on lived experience from SDA tenants, this session covers both the systemic issues that shape safety and the everyday harms that don't get reported but quietly erode trust and independence. The second category rarely shows up in an incident register, which is exactly why it's worth hearing about.
12:35pm | From mindset to impact: leading quality, sustainability and change Kate Fulton and Lynsey McDonnell, Avivo, Mel Kubisa, Community Living Options, and Charmaine Fraser, DSC
How organisations make hard financial and operational calls without quietly trading away quality. Notable, this panel has a CEO and CFO from the same organisation, Avivo, which should make for an honest conversation about tradeoffs.
2:00pm | Disability support services sector inquiry update Anna Booth, Fair Work Ombudsman
The Fair Work Ombudsman is running an inquiry into the sector's compliance and workplace laws across wages, conditions and employment practices. This session covers what the inquiry has found so far and what comes next.
Another great session:
Day 2, 11:20am | NDIS 2031: who stays, who goes Loki Ball, Performl
Not a safeguarding session, but Performl's modelling of where the scheme lands by 2031 can help shape a three year workforce plan. Hear about where demand grows and shrinks, and what gaps and opportunities exist for providers.
Come and find Oho!
The Oho team will be at DSC's Annual NDIS Conference on both days. Come say hi!
(Times are correct at the time of writing. DSC has noted the program is still evolving, so check the app on the day.)
