Expert Disability Housing Advisory Panel

The Queensland Government established the Expert Disability Housing Advisory Panel to ensure the voices of people with lived experience of disability inform housing policy, planning, and reform in Queensland.

Chaired and led by people with lived experience of disability, the panel provides advice on housing issues and reform priorities that affect Queenslanders with disability.

About the panel

Eight panel members advise the Queensland Government on:

  • inclusive housing policy, planning, and service delivery
  • complex and changing state and national reforms relating to housing for people with disability
  • emerging housing issues and opportunities affecting people with disability.

The panel also:

  • provide regular updates to the Minister for Housing on their contribution to inform inclusive housing priorities.

Members meet quarterly, with:

  • 2 meetings online
  • 2 meetings in person each year.

Panel members were selected to reflect the diversity of the Queensland community and include representation from:

  • First Nations peoples
  • LGBTIQ+
  • culturally and linguistically diverse people
  • carers
  • a broad range of ages.

The Minister for Housing and Public Works is invited to attend a panel meeting twice a year.

The panel provide quarterly updates to the Minister along with a publicly available annual report.

Annual report

The Expert Disability Housing Advisory Panel Annual Report 2025 (PDF, 6818.9 KB) includes the advice and approach of the panel for 2025 and its priorities for 2026.

Panel members

8 members of the Expert Disability Advisory Panel
Front row L-R: Dane Cross, Karin Brady (nee Swift), Nigel Webb.
Back row L-R: Jasmen Youdale, Alan Duffy, Jane Britt, Sara Shams and Julie Saunders.

Panel member biographies

Karin Brady (nee Swift)—Chair

Karin has extensive experience implementing disability housing and homelessness policies.

Her achievements include:

  • President of Women with Disabilities Australia
  • Community Resource Unit board member
  • Queensland Disability Housing coalition coordinator

As the Coordinator of the former Queensland Disability Housing Coalition, she also worked closely with government agencies and advocacy groups to develop policies that ensured housing solutions aligned with the housing principles for inclusive communities.

She was part of the co-design team in the ‘My Housing Options’ project, working with Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN) to create a toolkit to assist people with disability to make informed housing choices.

Sara Shams—Deputy Chair

Sara is a double above-knee amputee and a proud woman of colour. She is also a pharmacist, speaker, model, and award-winning advocate for disability rights, diversity, and inclusion.

Her achievements include:

  • Carers Queensland board member
  • Limbs 4 Life board member
  • being a peer support mentor for over a decade
  • experience reshaping narratives around disability, gender, and cultural identity, while driving systemic change
  • high-level expertise in healthcare, governance, inclusive leadership, policymaking, peer support, and equitable representation for culturally and linguistically diverse communities with disabilities across multiple platforms.

Jasmen Youdale

Jasmen is a Peer Support Worker who works with people in crisis accommodation spaces, helping them to move into long-term tenancies and maintain and thrive in their accommodation.

As a First Nations person with disability, Jasmen brings a lifetime of wisdom to her work.

Her family’s experiences navigating the housing system, personal challenges dealing with mental health and disabilities, and a childhood that saw her in and out of government systems feeds her passion to help others.

Jasmen’s understanding of housing across rental and social, homeless shelters, child safety, youth residential care, and boarding house settings gives her the ability to advocate for others and a positive, open mindedness about what’s possible in each person’s housing journey.

Alan Duffy

Alan is a Board member of Nundah Community Enterprises Co-operative which creates sustainable employment and training opportunities for people with cognitive and/or psycho-social disabilities.

Alan is the President of Independent Youth Housing Organisation, a not-for-profit company providing stable housing, set up and run by people with an intellectual disability.

He is also the Vice-President of the Community Living Association, which runs a small housing project that houses people with an intellectual disability.

Alan’s understanding of how different housing organisations and systems operate, rental systems, and the importance of people feeling a sense of control and security in relation to their housing, will offer valuable perspectives in his role on the Expert Panel.

Nigel Webb

As a person living with physical disability, Nigel has lived in institutional settings, group homes, community housing, the private rental market, public housing, and is now a proud homeowner.

From 2010-2020, Nigel was elected annually as Chair of the Board of Directors of Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN) and in 2015 was involved with developing the housing principles for inclusive communities of rights, choice, inclusion and control.

In his work with QDN, Nigel was one of the appointed 22 ‘Housing Champions’. Nigel was co-Chair of the National Disability and Carers Advisory Council from August 2018 to November 2019.

Nigel was an inaugural member of the Queensland Disability Advisory Council (QDAC) providing advice to the Queensland Government on its disability action plans and portfolio areas for 5 years and was reappointed to QDAC in 2022.

Nigel is also a Queensland delegate to the Australian Disability Strategy Advisory Council.

Julie Saunders

Julie is a policy professional in housing and has lived experience as a mother of a child with disability.

As Chair of the Queensland Housing Supply Expert Panel and a board member of Bric Housing since 2020, Julie has broad experience across various levels of government and the not-for-profit and private sectors.

Julie recently worked on the Game Changers report with Queenslanders with Disability Network, which outlines the changes needed to support improved inclusive employment around the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With expertise in housing policy as a strategist and having lived experience as a carer, Julie brings a unique perspective to the Expert Panel.

Jane Britt

A not-for-profit and disability leader for over 8 years, Jane is a Disability Policy Consultant, working with for-purpose and not-for-profit organisations to deliver high-level policy consultation work. She is a senior consultant and advisor for The Social Deck.

Jane is a current non-executive director for Holy Cross Services and Social Futures and has held roles with:

  • People with Disability Australia
  • Blind Citizens Australia
  • Queenslanders with Disability Network.

Throughout her policy work, Jane has made significant contributions to a broad range of initiatives, including:

  • National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Review (lead)
  • National Disability and Aged Care Royal Commissions
  • Senate inquiries
  • National Disability Strategy
  • State disability plans.

Jane has also consulted widely on issues affecting people with disability, including transport, education, employment, banking, housing, community access, civic participation and emergency response/planning.

Dane Cross

As Chief Operating Officer at Sporting Wheelies and former Senior Advisor for Access & Inclusion at Spinal Life Australia, Dane has combined his professional expertise with lived experience of quadriplegia to influence:

  • housing policy
  • accessibility standards
  • inclusive design practices.

As an Access Consultant, he has worked extensively with governments, businesses, and communities to address accessibility challenges in the built environment, gaining firsthand insight into the barriers within the private rental market, including resistance to modifications.

Dane has personally navigated a wide range of housing systems, including:

  • Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) under the NDIS
  • social housing
  • private rentals
  • home ownership.

These experiences provide him with a deep understanding of the systemic barriers faced by people with disabilities and strengthen his ability to advocate for policies that promote accessibility, affordability, and independent living across all housing types.

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