QNADA News

Submission to the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Dismantling Illegal Trade) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025

In October, QNADA made a submission to the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products (Dismantling Illegal Trade) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025.

QNADA acknowledges the importance of taking further action to respond to the rapidly growing unregulated (i.e., illicit) tobacco market. In response, we support effective responses to tobacco and other smoking products use which are evidence informed and likely to increase individual and community safety, as outlined in our policy position paper on effective responses to drug use.

Contrary to the intention of the recently passed legislation, we are concerned that the singular emphasis on law enforcement over demand and harm reduction approaches will have devastating consequences for individuals and communities, while simultaneously failing to reduce use.

Our submission called for recalibration of efforts and investment to be more balanced between the three pillars of harm minimisation – supply, demand and harm reduction – and for prevention and cessation programs to be increased as part of routine care across all health and community services and in correctional settings, including within alcohol and other drug treatment and harm reduction services.

You can read the full submission here.

You can ready our policy position paper on ‘Effective Responses to Drug Use’ here.

2023-24 Alcohol and other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set

The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS) contains information about alcohol and other drug treatment services; the clients who use these services; the types of issues for which treatment is sought and the types of treatment provided. In 2023-24, 107 establishments provided 22,104 closed treatment episodes to 13,682 clients aged 10+, a small decrease from 22,393 episodes in 2022-23.

Counselling was the most accessed treatment type (49%) followed by support and case management (18%), and rehabilitation (17%). More than half of episodes were provided to male clients (52%). Alcohol was the most common principal drug of concern for which clients sought treatment (39%), followed by methamphetamine (36%) and Cannabinoids (13%).

Data interpretation notes: The data is limited to those NGO AODTS who submit through QNADA, including statewide residential treatment services. Data from AODS or similar government services is not included. Please note, in some cases, agencies may not submit data to QNADA.

Please click here to read the full report.

Submission to the Productivity Commission’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement Review: Interim Report

In July, QNADA made a submission to the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement Review, Interim Report. We welcome the Productivity Commission’s acknowledgement of the co-occurring and intersecting nature of problematic alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and mental illness or suicidal distress.  

Our submission supported the inclusion of additional schedules to address the co-occurrence of problematic AOD use and mental ill health and suicide and to strengthen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing.  

We also emphasised the need for a sector-inclusive national level governance structure to facilitate better planning between tiers of government, representatives of key AOD sector stakeholders, and those with relevant personal experience, to address the limited coordination of the development, implementation, and funding of National Strategy priorities. 

You can read the full submission here. 

Submission to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025

QNADA recently made a submission to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. We are supportive of proactive, evidence-based reforms which strengthen supports and provide immediate protections for victim survivors of domestic and family violence and we urged the committee to consider the potential impact of AOD use and harms in the context of coercive control and domestic and family violence.

Our submission highlights the intersection of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use with domestic, family, and sexual violence. Informed by member consultation and research, it stresses that while AOD use and DFV often co-occur, there is no direct causal relationship between AOD use and violence perpetration.

We further draw attention to the ways stigma and discrimination impact women and girls who use substances and are engaged with the criminal justice system. In particular, for victim/survivors it may result in a reluctance to report offences because of previous negative experiences with the criminal justice system and/or a fear of harmful consequences (particularly for those who use illicit drugs). Where victim/survivors who use substances do report, they are also more likely to encounter (real or perceived) issues with respect to the credibility of their statements which may impede the investigation or successful prosecution of offences.

You can read the full submission here

Submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission’s review of particular criminal defences

The Queensland Law Reform Commission was recently asked by the Queensland Government to examine and make recommendations about particular defences in the criminal code, specifically self defence, provocation as a defence to assault, provocation as a partial defence to murder, the partial defence to murder of killing for preservation in an abusive domestic relationship, and domestic discipline.

QNADA welcome the Commission’s review of various aspects of criminal law and are supportive of proactive, evidence-based reforms to criminal law which strengthen supports for victims of violent crimes, particularly those which occur within the context of coercive control and domestic and family violence.

Our submission directs the Commission’s attention to the role alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and intoxication and focusses on:

• The role of AOD use, and harms, within family and domestic violence contexts
• Issues to consider when implementing proposal 2 and 3
• The significant institutional stigma and discrimination experienced by people who use drugs

You can read the full submission here

Submission to the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025

In April, QNADA made a submission to the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025. QNADA’s member services work at the intersection of multiple different systems and provide support to young people and their families who are in contact with, or are at risk of having contact with, the youth justice system. This makes us uniquely positioned to comment on the proposed amendments, which are contradictory to what we know works when responding to youth crime and out of step with other Australian jurisdictions.

QNADA is supportive of responses which are evidence informed and likely to increase individual and community safety, as outlined in our policy position paper on System Responses: Young People and the Justice System. We are concerned that the proposed amendments will increase the number of young people in custody, without improving community safety.

Our submission focuses on the challenges with:

• the ‘exceptional crisis situation’
• punitive approaches to youth offending
• removing the principle of detention as last resort
• disproportionate impacts on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people
• allowing cautions and restorative justice agreements to appear on the criminal history of a child
• equitable access to appropriate healthcare for young people engaged with the justice system
• enabling media to be presenting during criminal proceedings

You can read the full submission here

You can read our policy position paper on System Responses: Young People and the Justice System here

Submission to the Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025

QNADA recently made a submission to the Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025. The purpose of the Bill is to extend the electronic monitoring trial period by one year. While we are supportive of policies which aim to keep children out of custody, we are concerned that the proposed amendments will increase the criminalisation of children without improving community safety. As such, we did not support the bill.

Our submission argued that there is insufficient evidence to support extending the trial period considering that the literature on the use of electronic monitoring devices with children is, at best, mixed and that the trial has been extended multiple times yet has failed to provide evidence to support its effectiveness.

We also argued that the bill will not enhance community safety and instead will result in the further criminalisation and net-widening and, more broadly, policies which are punitive in nature generally do not provide a benefit to the community. We instead argued for policy and legislative responses focused on addressing the broader social factors which elevate the risk of a young person coming into contact with police or entering the youth justice system, including poverty, homelessness, family violence, and problematic substance use.

You can read the full submission here.

Submission to the Productivity Commission’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement Review

The Productivity Commission was recently asked by the Australian Government to conduct the final review of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement and to assess the impact of programs and make recommendations that aim to enhance the effectiveness, accessibility, affordability and safety of the mental health and suicide prevention system. As our member services work at the coalface of these system, QNADA provided feedback for their process on current issues facing the AOD system with a focus on broad system level issues at the federal level in particular.

Our submission identified the following areas of improvement to Australia’s current approach:

• Chronic underfunding of the AOD sector
• The need to resolve issues within the current funding, contracting and commissioning environment
• Issues associated with the PHN network
• The need for national level governance arrangements for the AOD system

You can real the full submission here.

Submission to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024

On 12 December 2024 the Minister for Health and Ambulance Services introduced the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 into the Queensland Parliament to improve public protection and public confidence in the safety of services provided by registered health practitioners.

QNADA were generally supportive of the bill. We supported raising the bar for practitioners to regain their registration following cancellation or disqualification and the requirement for a cancelled or disqualified practitioner to obtain a reinstatement order from QCAT prior to applying for re-registration. We suggested that alongside this government introduce a requirement that re-registered practitioners attend ongoing counselling with a peer and report to registration bodies for a stipulated period.

We supported expanding the information available on the public register for practitioners who have engaged in serious sexual misconduct. We support the creation of an offence of threaten, intimidate, dismiss, refuse to employ, or subject a person to other detriment or reprisal because they intend to or have made a notification, recognising that people who report should feel safe in being able to report the conduct without fear of reprisals or intimidation.

You can read the full submission here.

Statement re ban on gender affirming care

QNADA is deeply concerned about the Queensland Government’s decision to enforce a statewide ‘halt’ to all gender affirming hormone care including puberty blockers.  This ban will disproportionately affect young people and families who cannot access this support through the private sector, and increases the risk young people will obtain unregulated forms of medication.  You can read the statement here Fin_20250220_Statement re ban on gender affirming care.

Submission into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system 2024

In October, QNADA made a submission into the inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system. We welcomed the inquiry considering QNADA and our member services have long expressed significant concerns regarding the mistreatment of children and young people who interact with the youth justice system in Queensland.

This submission identifies a range of issues relevant to the committee’s scope including:

• the outcomes and impacts of youth incarceration in jurisdictions across Australia;
• the over-incarceration of First Nations children;
• the degree of compliance and non-compliance by state, territory and federal prisons and detention centres with the human rights of children and young people in detention; the Commonwealth’s international obligations in regards to youth justice including the rights of the child, freedom from torture and civil rights; and
• the benefits and need for enforceable national minimum standards for youth justice consistent with our international obligations.

You can read the full submission here.

Submission to the Liquor and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (online liquor sales)

In August, QNADA was consulted in regard to the Liquor and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (online liquor sales). We were generally supportive of the bills commitment to preventing and reducing alcohol related harms through improved regulation of same day liquor delivery. QNADA welcomes the proactive action being taken in relation to this issue and the commitment to prioritise the health and wellbeing of the Queensland community.

Our submission focussed on:

• The proposed restriction on delivery of alcohol to the hours 10am and 10pm – which we supported
• The strengthening of enforcement for breaches of responsible service of alcohol laws
• Our concern that the penalties for organisations who breach self-exclusion agreements are demonstrably weak

You can read the full submission here: