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). 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 2021–22:
- around 1,300 publicly funded agencies provided data about their treatment services to the AODTS NMDS
- over 2 in 3 (68%) agencies were non-government
- nearly 3 in 5 (56%) agencies were located in Major cities
- nationally, counselling was the most common main treatment type provided by agencies across all remoteness areas.
Nationally, over the 10-year period to 2021–22, the total number of publicly funded agencies providing AOD treatment almost doubled from 714 in 2012–13 to around 1,274 in 2021–22.
In 2021–22, 1,274 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 475 in New South Wales. The number of agencies reporting to the AODTS NMDS in 2021–22 decreased from 1,279 in 2020–21.
Over the last 10 years, the total number of AOD treatment agencies almost doubled (from 714 in 2012–13 to 1,274 in 2021–22). This has been driven by 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 397 in 2012–13 to 871 in 2021–22). 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, 2021–22 for further information.
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