Do modern states have the reform capacity to implement major public policy reforms?

Both in Australia and internationally, there is growing concern that governments have lost policy and reform capacity , including the ability to design appropriate processes and structures and ensure the flow of information... [ view full abstract ]

Both in Australia and internationally, there is growing concern that governments have lost policy and reform capacity , including the ability to design appropriate processes and structures and ensure the flow of information key to decision-makers regarding policy implementation . This has been prompted by the ‘hollowing-out’ of the state, where many service delivery functions have been deliberately transferred to networks of non-government entities and proxies. In the face of these changes, concerns have been raised over what level of reform capacity has been, and should be, retained by the state to control and steer such networks.

Despite such capacity concerns, Australia has embarked upon the introduction of an ambitious, expensive and path-breaking social policy reform, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The complexity of the proposed NDIS governance arrangements, and the envisioned disability service market, give the reform an international significance. Successful implementation of the NDIS confronts two of the largest, and currently unsolved, challenges of public administration – the use of market arrangements in service delivery and the ability to build flexibility and learning into public management structures while still maintaining a suitable level of control. In this paper, we outline the challenges faced by the NDIS’s implementation and explore possible approaches to meet them. In doing so, we reflect more broadly on the question on whether the reform capacity of modern states has been enhanced or diminished by the creation of service delivery networks.