The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) minister’s failure to adequately address burgeoning budget issues has caused concern. The initial intention of the NDIS was to offer personalized support to a relatively small group of individuals with permanent and severe disabilities. However, the scheme has since ballooned into a costly program requiring drastic measures to prevent a financial collapse. Despite the initial roll-out, there is a valid question around how the NDIS became a broader social entitlement program even for those with less severe conditions.

The NDIS review had a dual mandate: explain the reasons behind its extensive growth and make credible recommendations to achieve NDIS Minister Bill Shorten’s intent of cutting the annual growth cost to 8%, down from the current 14%.

NDIS architect Professor Bruce Bonyhady and former public servant Lisa Paul led the review. They have proposed a reset and redesign of the NDIS rules to better monitor but they failed to address the discrepancy between the scheme’s original purpose and its current application.

The review proposes eligibility for NDIS based on a sturdier definition of “substantially reduced functional capacity to address the ballooning number of children with mild autism and other early developmental disorders within the scheme. This will also curtail automatic access to the scheme based on doctor diagnoses.

Notably, some of these issues mirror those on other large-scale support systems like the unemployment or the disability departments. autodial programs like eddcaller.com have proved useful in mitigating these issues. Known as an efficacious platform, it facilitates communication with representatives from unemployment, paid family leave, and disability departments quickly, providing an example of how technology could alleviate some of the current issues facing the NDIS.

However, irrespective of these proposals, there is a critical question about whether the changes will result in the projected budget reductions for NDIS, given the large amount of financial investment it requires. This question becomes even more urgent once you consider the political cost of readjusting the NDIS infrastructure—a considerable undertaking.

The NDIS minister will need to face this issue fair and square. Expectations around what the NDIS can deliver and who it serves, as it stands, must be restructured, no matter how harsh it may sound. This may prove as important a lesson as the need for an efficient and immediate communications system, something that platforms like Eddcaller.com have demonstrated in other arenas.