Agencies
The Australian Government and state and territory governments fund non-government and government agencies to provide a range of alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services (see Key terminology and glossary). This is a service provision-based collection and not demand-based, noting that services are limited by the number of clients they are able to provide treatment to, and that this may not be reflective of the demand for services by the broader community. Treatment services are delivered in both residential and non-residential settings, and often include treatments such as detoxification, rehabilitation, counselling and pharmacotherapy.
The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS) contains a subset of information on publicly funded AOD treatment agencies and their service delivery outlets. An agency can have more than one service delivery outlet, located in different areas (see Policy Framework for details of collection scope).
Key findings
In 2023–24:
- 1,304 publicly funded agencies provided data about their treatment services to the AODTS NMDS.
- 7 in 10 (69%) agencies were non-government.
- 3 in 5 (58%) agencies were located in Major cities.
- Nationally, counselling was the most common main treatment type provided by agencies across all remoteness areas.
- The most common treatment provided by government services included assessment only (36% of episodes), counselling (31%) and withdrawal management (13%).
- The most common treatment provided by non-government services included counselling (34% of episodes), support and case management (19%) and assessment only (16%).
Nationally, over the 10-year period to 2023–24, the total number of publicly funded agencies providing AOD treatment increased by 56% from 838 in 2014–15 to 1,304 in 2023–24.
In 2023–24, 1,304 publicly funded AOD treatment agencies reported to the AODTS NMDS. The number of agencies in each jurisdiction ranged from 17 in the Australian Capital Territory to 487 in New South Wales. The number of agencies reporting to the AODTS NMDS in 2023–24 increased from 1,280 in 2022–23.
Over the last 10 years, the total number of AOD treatment agencies almost doubled (from 838 in 2014–15 to 1,304 in 2023–24). This has been driven by AOD service increases in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia. The expansion in the sector has seen a growth in the number of non-government AOD treatment services (from 486 in 2014–15 to 897 in 2023–24) (Figure AGENCIES 1, Table Agcy.1).
The expansion has included new funding arrangements for existing AOD programs to increase service capacity, expand collaboration across agencies and deliver new treatment services. See the Alcohol and other drug treatment services NMDS Data Quality Statement, 2023–24 for further information.
Figure AGENCIES 1: Treatment agencies, by state and territory, 2014–15 to 2023–24
Line graph shows the number of treatment agencies from 2014–15 to 2023–24. New South Wales had the greatest number of agencies followed by Victoria across the 10 years to 2023–24.
