Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Ludwig, representing the Minister for Health and Ageing. I draw the minister’s attention to a paper published in the April edition of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry relating to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The research was conducted by academics from the University of Nebraska and the University of South Australia. The paper reports on a 16-year review of South Australian government data to identify a high variation in new cases of the prescription of psychostimulants, including amphetamines, to treat ADHD, as well as higher prescription levels in lower socioeconomic suburbs—some as high as 12 per cent of children aged between five and 18 years. My questions are: is the minister aware of this longitudinal study? Is the minister aware of media reports of similar trends in the lower socioeconomic suburbs of Sydney, as well as other research that indicates such volatility in prescription rates between states and regions? If so, can the minister offer a response on behalf of the federal government as to why it believes that there is such a volatility in psychostimulant drug prescription for ADHD across states, cities and suburbs?