The NDIS Needs Better Technology. Not a Brand New One

May 2026

Total disability spending in Australia is on track to hit $98 billion this year. Despite ambitious government targets to slow NDIS growth, the scheme remains one of the most expensive public programs in the world, and the pressure to reform it has never been greater.

Last week, The Australian Financial Review reported on what those reforms could look like. And once again, the answer keeps coming back to technology.

The case for using what already exists

The federal budget projects NDIS spending of $56.1 billion for fiscal 2027, with the government targeting $38 billion in savings over four years. But experts are warning that cutting participants is not the only, or the best, path to sustainability.

Former Treasury official Stephen Anthony, who chaired the government's review into NDIS pricing, told the AFR that a digital payments platform capable of vetting every payment would help stop rorting without cutting services.

Kismet CEO Mark Woodland was quoted directly in the piece:

"No one should underestimate the scale of the delivery challenge. The key is to work with industry and use the technology that already exists in the market. I worry that a brand new, bespoke system will not be delivered in the timeframe required to power these reforms."

That's exactly what Kismet has already built.

Reform requires speed. Speed requires existing infrastructure.

The government has introduced legislation giving the Health Minister sweeping powers to reshape the scheme. The window to act is now, but only if the right tools are already in place.

Kismet's digital payments platform is live, processing over 200,000 invoices a month, and ready to scale. We're not waiting for reform to catch up. We're already building the infrastructure the NDIS needs.

Read the full Australian Financial Review article by Michael Smith here to understand the scale of the challenge, and why the solution is already within reach.