In December 2015, the Australian Government announced the release of the Australian Government Response to the National Ice Taskforce Final Report (the Response). The Response underpinned the National Ice Action Strategy (NIAS), which was endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on 11 December 2016.
The Australian Government invested approximately $561 million over four years from 1 July 2016 in drug and alcohol treatment services, as part of a $713 million investment in reducing the impact of drug and alcohol misuse on individuals, families and communities under the Drug and Alcohol Program.
Approximately $412.1 million of this investment was provided to Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to commission locally based treatment in line with community need. This included the $241.5 million committed under the NIAS. This funding was delivered through the Australian Government’s Drug and Alcohol Program and aims to improve the access to, and effectiveness of drug and alcohol treatment services in the community.
In April 2020, the Australian Government announced an additional $6 million would be invested in online and phone support services for people experiencing substance issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main source of data about specialist drug and alcohol treatment services in Australia is the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (the AODTS NMDS), compiled on an annual basis from administrative data by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
PHN-commissioned specialist alcohol and other drug treatment providers collect data, in accordance with the AODTS NMDS, on in-scope specialist treatment services and provide it to the AIHW. Alcohol and other drug treatment agencies funded by PHN organisations under the Drug and Alcohol Program submitted data to the AODTS NMDS for the first time in 2016–17.
The following set of data visualisations present information at PHN geographic areas. The data presented are from all publicly funded AOD treatment services (which includes PHN-commissioned services) that have reported to the AODTS NMDS (see technical notes for more details).
PHNs are organisations that connect health services across a specific geographic area (PHN areas). There are 31 PHN areas that cover the whole of Australia with the boundaries defined by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Some states/territories consist of a single PHN area, while others are made up of multiple PHN areas.
