WA Alcohol & Drug Authority
The Western Australian Alcohol and Drug Authority (WAADA) was established by the Alcohol & Drug Authority Act 1974 & commenced in November 1974.
As the WAADA is a statutory body, in theory at least, it operated independently & reported directly to the Minister for Health. However, all members of the Board are appointed by the Minister & for a number of years it operated as a defacto specialist sub-agency in the Department of Health (DOH) portfolio.
Following the election of the Barnett Liberal government, in September 2008 administrative responsibility for the WAADA was transferred to the Minister for Mental Health.
There have been a number of major reforms by both Labor & Liberal (ie conservative) governments since the early 1990s which have reshaped the role of the WAADA. These reforms have resulted in the almost complete withdrawal of Government as a specialist provider of treatment services, such that now the WAADA undertakes a limited role as the operator of a short term inpatient medical detoxification facility in Moore Street, East Perth.
Since the mid 1990s the WAADA has increasingly concentrated on training, the funding of services provided by non government organisations (NGOs) & oversight of community based education programs concerned with alcohol & other drugs (except tobacco control) & other preventive measures. These organisational changes have been implemented through administrative rather legislative reform & mean the statutory arrangement that underpins the WAADA remains unchanged from when the legislation was passed in 1974.
The role of the WAADA vis a vis other related bodies & NGOs can be gleaned to some extent from its annual reports, which have been issued for the following financial years:
Next Step Specialist Drug & Alcohol Services
The emphasis on separating the policy, funding & service provider roles undertaken by the WAADA as distinct from its residual clinical role, was emphasised by the registration in April 1999 of the title of Next Step Specialist Drug & Alcohol Services under the Business Names Act 1962. This specifically refers to the WAADA's detoxification facility in East Perth, with the remainder of services located at Carrellis Centre in Field Street Mount Lawley.
Annual reports of the ADA were issued under the name of Next Step Specialist Drug & Alcohol Services for the following financial years:
Health Department of WA
In 1 July 1994, as a consequence of management reforms of the WA health system introduced by the Liberal Government, the functions of the WAADA were reduced to that of a service provider. These reforms created the State Health Purchasing Authority (SHPA), which operated as a sub-agency within the Department of Health (DOH), to reflect the separation of purchasing of services from the provision of a wide range of health-related services. This was referred to as the Funder Owner Purchaser Provider (FOPP) model for funding of health services outside of the public hospital system.
In addition to the transfer of the responsibility for purchasing services to the SHPA, the Drug & Alcohol Policy & Planning Unit (DAPPU) was created within the Mental Health Division of the DOH, to oversee the integration of alcohol & other drug services within this portfolio area of the health system. Details of activities of the DAPPU are contained in the excerpts (below) from DOH annual reports for the years 1997/1998 to 2001/2002.
Excerpts (below) from a number of DOH published annual reports provide details of alcohol & other drug activities activities undertaken by the DOH over the period 1988 to 2002, eg the Drinksafe Campaign, programs supported by the Mental Health Division & public health campaigns developed by the Public Health Division.
WA Drug Abuse Strategy Office
The WA Drug Abuse Strategy Office (WADASO) was established in June 1997 from a recommendation in the Task Force on Drug Abuse for there to be a central agency (to be called the Central Drug Coordinating Office) specifically responsible for drug policy in WA.
WADASO was located in the Ministry of Premier & Cabinet & reported directly to the Premier who had assumed the position as Minister Responsible for Drug Strategy. The responsbility for funding of alcohol & other drug services throughout the State was transferred from the SHPA to the WADASO when it was formed.
In June 1998 WADASO was transferred to a new Minister Responsible for Drug Strategy. As this Minister was concurrently the Minister for Family & Children's Service (FCS), WADASO was administered as part of FCS portfolio & accordingly for the years 1997/1998, 1998/1999 & 1999/2000 was included within FCS annual reports. The relevant sections of these annual reports have been excerpted.
Click on the following links to view or download excerpts of sections of FCS published annual reports concerned with WADASO up to 1999/2000. A full WADASO annual report was published for the financial year 2000/2001.
In July 2000 WADASO was removed from the FCS administrative structure & became a stand alone agency under the Financial Administration & Audit Act 1985. It submitted its only annual report for the 2000/2001 year, as it ceased to exist as a separate agency after 30 June 2002, when the Drug & Alcohol Office (DAO) was established.
Drug & Alcohol Office
The Drug & Alcohol Office (DAO) commenced operation on 1 July 2002 by consolidating a number of functions formerly undertaken by the:
- WADASO
- Alcohol & Other Drug Program (part of the Population Health Division in the DOH)
- Alcohol & Drug Policy Branch (part of the Mental Health Division in DOH)
Although DAO is used as the title to describe the WAADA's non clinical functions (as clinical functions are contained with Next Step), annual reporting from 2002/2003 has been published under the title of Drug & Alcohol Office.
The July 2002 consolidation also sought to combine within one agency the alcohol prevention & community education/awareness campaigns which were overseen by the Department of Health's Public Health Division. The Health Promotion Services Branch had developed a number of these campaigns, such as the notable Drinksafe Campaign, launched in March 1988.
Annual reports for the years 2002/2003 onwards are available from the Drug & Alcohol Office website here.
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