The inherent difficulties in delivering human services and supports to remote areas falling outside of metropolitan districts generally stem from physical isolation related to the absence of major transport, communications, and other infrastructure and restrictions in relation to the allocation of scarce resources within a political framework where value for money is often considered a priority. That said, there is no universal criteria nor measurement for regionality or remoteness since what is considered regional or remote changes depending on the social, geographical and cultural context, as well as the nature of the service or support required. Human services and supports are often programs delivered consistent with social welfare objectives and can include the provision of health care and supports in the form of primary or allied services. These services can include such supports as those provided for people with disability and the elderly, in addition to employment and education programs.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) represents a social reform of a magnitude unseen in Australia. The Scheme's significant scope for impact warrants that proper performance evaluation is undertaken, that stakeholder interactions are collaborative and that the scheme is outcome driven. This article reviews a selection of grey literature to gain insights into the persistence of challenges facing the Scheme, as well as how the policy discourse has developed between 2011 and 2020. Our review finds that key issues related to the Scheme's effectiveness and sustainability have been persistent and repeatedly documented by stakeholders. Furthermore, we find that, had the grey literature been heeded, the current and predictable challenges facing the NDIS could have been mitigated at least to some extent. Our contribution here is to renew scholarly vigour toward the Scheme by canvassing its challenges as identified by commentators, policymakers and the industry itself and to focus attention on the capacity for this literature to predict and describe potential and extant problems as well as providing mitigations. By extension, we provide a catalogue of these challenges while showcasing the value of grey literature as one source of triangulating evidence in informing policy evaluation.
As the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) moves towards full rollout, it is timely to describe the nature of the policy framework and environment driving outcomes in order to better respond to commentary and learnings. To do this, this paper assesses Kingdon's Multiple Streams Approach as an explanatory model which will allow us to untangle the spaghetti of competing interests, issues and drivers of policy. Notwithstanding observed limitations, the paper finds that the potential for a policy window provides a powerful guide for actors to organise, as well as a mechanism for compromise. Further, the model suggests that key political drivers dominated the emergence and development of the NDIS and have thus shaped its current state.
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