Articles and Insights
Sector Insights | Leadership Lens | Beyond Compliance
NDIS Reform, Reality and What We Risk Losing
The recent National Press Club address by Minister Mark Bulter provides one of the clearest signals yet on the direction of NDIS reform. There is a strong focus on sustainability, consistency and system integrity - underpinned by measures to slow cost growth, tighten eligibility, and strengthen oversight. Many of these shifts respond to real and longstanding challenges within the scheme.
At the same time, the implications for people with disability and their families are significant. For some, these changes may bring greater clarity, and for some organisations, opportunities to deliver foundational or community supports. For others, they may result access being removed or harder to prove, changes and material reductions to supports, or a shift in how services are delivered. In a fast-moving conversation, it can be difficult to separate rhetoric from reform.
We’ve taken the time to step through the detail and pull together a considered, balanced view of what is changing, where the complexity sits, and what it may mean in practice for the sector.
2026: Holding purpose in a hardening political climate
Social purpose leaders feeling the weight of 2026 are not alone. With rising public accountability, major reforms landing, and global signals that social service issues are becoming topical in the political landscape, leadership is getting harder - but also more important than ever. In this piece we offer a grounded, optimistic lens that explores what 2026 demands - the “inside work” that makes reform survivable. Plus we offer three questions to help you focus, prioritise and lead with confidence when accountability is high.
Social Sector in 2025: A Year of Reform, Reckoning and Renewal
2025 brought both pressure and progress across aged care, disability, and social services - reshaping the social sector in profound ways. From the new Aged Care Act to shifts in disability policy and workforce expectations, organisations have navigated change at every level.
In our wrap-up of the year, we reflect on these, the challenges and cultural shifts that shaped the sector, and what they mean for leaders preparing for 2026. Amid uncertainty, one thing is clear: the opportunity to build stronger, more values-aligned organisations has never been greater.
Will 2026 take the sector beyond the challenges reform, and provide opportunities for real transformation?
Lessons for Inclusive Employment Australia: What the NDIS taught us about getting reform right
Australia’s disability employment services will shift again as Inclusive Employment Australia (IEA) replaces the Disability Employment Services (DES) model. It’s a step forward, but also a complex one as success will depend greatly on how well providers, leaders, and communities navigate both design and delivery. Here we explore five lessons that, in our experience, must be front and centre.