Looking at quality through a systems lens—Applying systems thinking to the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11959375 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jade Hart (0000-0002-3168-0147, Public Service Research Group, School of Business UNSW Canberra Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia, corresponding author), Vindhya Weeratunga (0000-0002-5198-1537, Public Service Research Group, School of Business UNSW Canberra Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia), Helen Dickinson (0000-0003-3852-8815, Public Service Research Group, School of Business UNSW Canberra Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia), Deborah Blackman (0000-0001-9057-5526, Public Service Research Group, School of Business UNSW Canberra Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Public Administration (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0313-6647 • E-ISSN: 1467-8500 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-8500.70037 |
| OpenAlex | W7130514225 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
It is widely recognised that many policy systems are complex, requiring collaboration across different organisations and sectors to address socioeconomic outcomes and inequalities. Yet, the public policy literature is dominated by rational–technical frameworks that struggle to understand complex systems. This paper applies ideas from the field of applied systems to demonstrate their utility in a public administration context. We do so by applying a systems framework to analysis of the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) launched a decade ago as a new approach to the funding and provision of services and supports for people with disabilities. Over the implementation period, a critical narrative has developed regarding quality and safeguards. Drawing on systems thinking, we explore evidence from five independent reviews of the NDIS to identify why these issues might have occurred. We demonstrate that the NDIS may have become ‘stuck’ because it has encountered common system traps. We find the NDIS exhibits elements of three dominant system traps as conceptualised in the systems thinking literature: seeking the wrong goal, policy resistance, and shifting the burden to an intervenor. In doing so, we show the necessity of a systems lens to explore the challenges of complex policy interventions. Points for practitioners Complex policy interventions require frameworks that enable their interrogation in a holistic way, but there are limitations to the dominant tools currently used in public administration. Identifying where systems are ‘stuck’ in a structured way offers an alternative lens with which to create solutions. Systems thinking provides new knowledge of how system features can explain how traps emerge and are sustained. In applying this insight to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, we have demonstrated the utility of these ideas within the context of public administration
Interrogation · Narrative · Policy analysis · Psychological intervention · Public policy · Quality (philosophy · Scheme (mathematics · Systems thinking · Disability Rights and Representation · Healthcare innovation and challenges · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Australia’s National Disability Insurance
A Definition of Systems Thinking
Wellbeing in disaster recovery
Making markets work for disability services
The implementation of complex social policy
Governing for quality and safety
A decade on
Any one of us could be among that number’
Comparative analysis of health policy implementation
Naturalistic inquiry
Most people don’t like a client group that tell you to get fucked
Wicked Problems
| Highly cited | No |
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