Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Xenophon for his question. Can I say that it is estimated that more than 350,000 Australian children and adolescents have ADHD. The Rudd government, medical professionals and parents have been concerned for some time about the lack of clear evidence based information to assist the many people affected by this condition. These draft guidelines, which I think Senator Xenophon referred to, have been developed to help improve the assessment, treatment and care of people with ADHD in Australia. They have been drafted by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, who were commissioned, as Senator Xenophon outlined, in 2007 by the Department of Health and Ageing. The college has conducted a thorough and careful process to develop these draft guidelines and the draft guidelines recommend a multimodal approach to the treatment of ADHD.

I am advised that if the guidelines are followed by practitioners, children with ADHD will be carefully assessed and families will be informed of risks, benefits and options. The guidelines are currently in draft form—this goes to the central issue that Senator Xenophon has raised—pending formal approval by the National Health and Medical Research Council. This will be considered once an alleged conflict of interest investigation into a US based researcher is complete.

Whilst the work of this researcher is referenced in the guidelines, the researcher has not been involved in any way in the production of the guidelines. The National Health and Medical Research Council is closely monitoring the progress of the US investigation and once it is concluded will determine its significance or potential impact on the draft guidelines. (Time expired)