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The Western Australian Alcohol and Drug Authority (WAADA) was established by the Alcohol & Drug Authority Act 1974 & commenced operation in November 1974. (An interim committee was established in August 1974 prior to the official commencement date.)
As the WAADA is set up as a statutory body, in theory at least, it operates as an independent body reporting directly to the Minister for Health. However, whilst all members of the Board are appointed by the Minister, the organisation has for a number of years operated as a defacto specialist area with the Health Department portfolio.
There have been a number of major reforms introduced by governments since the early 1990s which have reshaped the role of the WAADA. In relation to services & priorities, reforms have resulted in the withdrawal of Government as a provider of services except in a role as a limited operator of a short term inpatient medical detoxification unit & increasingly concentrating on training, funding of services provided by non government organisations (NGOs) & oversight of community based education programs concerning alcohol & other drugs (except tobacco control) & other preventive measures.
A number of organisational changes have been implemented through administrative arrangements by various governments, all of which retained the statutory arrangement that underpins the WAADA. However, in spite of these changes, the WAADA has continued to operate up to the present day under the statutory framework established in the 1974 legislation. One rationale for creating additional structures was to emphasise that policy making & community activism role were best performed separate from the WAADA.
The emphasis on separating the policy, funding & service provider roles historically 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 clinical services located in East Perth.
It is helpful to provide a brief history of the administrative arrangements concerning the role of the WAADA vis a vis other related bodies as this enables identification of the relevant annual reports that contain pertinent information.
WA Alcohol & Drug Authority
The WAADA has operated continuously since November 1974 & issued an annual report each financial year. These can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on on the relevant link below.
Annual reports for the years 2002/2003 onwards are presently available from the Drug & Alcohol Office website here.
Health Department
From 1 July 1994, as a consequence of management reforms of the WA health system, the functions of the WAADA were reduced to being that of a service provider. These reforms had created the State Health Purchasing Authority (SHPA) to reflect the perception by the government that purchasing of services should be separated from the role of providing services - the Funder Owner Purchaser Provider (FOPP) model of health services.
In addition to the transfer of the responsibility for purchasing services, the Alcohol & Drug Policy Branch had been established at this time within the Mental Health Division, to spearhead the development of integration of alcohol & other drug services within this portfolio area of the health system.
Note: The responsbility for funding of alcohol & other drug services throughout the State was transferred from the SHPA to WADASO when it was established in mid 1997.
WA Drug Abuse Strategy Office
The WA Drug Abuse Strategy Office (WADASO) was established in June 1997 as a consequence of a recommendation in the Task Force on Drug Abuse for a central coordinating agency specifically responsible for drug policy. It was located in the Ministry of Premier & Cabinet & reported directly to the Premier who had assumed the position as Minister Responsible for Drug Strategy. In June 1998 WADASO was transferred to a newly appointed Minister Responsible for Drug Strategy.
As this Minister was concurrently the Minister for Family & Children's Service, WADASO was administered as part of the Department for Families & Children's Service (FCS) & 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.
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.
Click on the following links to view or download copies of published annual reports of WADASO for:
Drug & Alcohol Office
DAO commenced operation as an executive organisation on 1 July 2002, although it had been formally established in April 2002 as the result of the consolidation of functions formerly undertaken by the:
- WADASO;
- Alcohol & Other Drug Program (which had been part of the Population Health Division in the Department of Health); &
- Alcohol & Drug Policy Branch (which had been part of the Mental Health Division of the Department of Health).
Although DAO is used as the title to describe the WAADA's non clinical functions (as clinical functions are contained with Next Step), as the WAADA is a statutory body, annual reporting from 2002/2003 onwards technically applies to the Alcohol & Drug Authority in accordance with the underlying legislation, rather than the names created by either executive order or through registration as a business name.
The July 2002 consolidation also sought to resolve the separation of a number of functions which had existed over a number of years. This included managing prevention & community education/awareness campaigns in relation to alcohol, which had been an integral part of the Department of Health's public health functions undertaken by the Health Promotion Services Branch, which had commenced with the launch of the Drinksafe Campaign in March 1988.
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