Throughout 2023 we will be hosting a series of online events exploring a range of issues shaping alcohol and other drug use and the AOD sector in Australia.

Keep up to date with these events here and via our regular newsletter.

Previous Events

1pm (AEDT), Wednesday 25 October: Alcohol and other drugs, disability and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system: forging new partnerships and pathways to achieve better outcomes

View a recording of this event here. Note that this recording includes Auslan interpreting.

Find speaker presentations below:

• Mick Gentleman MLA, Minister for Corrections, ACT Government
• April Long, Chief Executive Officer, SMART Recovery Australia
• Kymberley McKay, Board Member NOFASD Australia, General Manager at Department Correctional Services, South Australia
• Nicole Hewlett, Project Manager, First Nations Cancer & Wellbeing Research Program, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland
• Jody Barney, Deaf Indigenous Community Consultancy Pty Ltd, Senior Fellow with Atlantic Fellows Social Equity and Global Fellow for Social Change, current Churchill Fellow
• Gerard Byrne, President, Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association and Operations Manager, WHOS Treatment Services

1pm, Tuesday 22 August: Applying the new Disability Support Pension Impairment Tables & Navigating Income Support Mutual Obligations for AOD clients – Information for the AOD Sector

View a recording of this event here. Speaker presentations are available here:

• Disability Support Pensions Alex Abel, Branch Manager, Carers, Disability and Student Payments, Australian Government, Department of Social Services
• Mutual obligations for unemployment payment recipients while undertaking drug or alcohol treatment Andrew Wright, Director, Mutual Obligation and Compliance Policy and Dan Lausevic, Director,
  Assessments and Mutual Obligations, Australian Government Department of Employment and
  Workplace Relations (DEWR)

For help regarding Mutual Obligation Requirements, contact the Workforce Australia National Customer Service Line.

Below are links to resources on applying for Disability Support Pensions and navigating Mutual Obligations Requirements:

• Disability Support Pension – Services Australia
• Disability Support Pension information for health professionals – Services Australia
• Disability Support Pension information for health professionals – Assessing functional capacity – Disability Support Pension information for health professionals – Services Australia.
• Disability Support Pension | Department of Social Services, Australian Government (dss.gov.au)
• Disability Support Pension – Health Professional Education Resources (servicesaustralia.gov.au)
• Workforce Australia Guidelines – Mutual Obligations Requirements of AOD treatment (excerpt; full guidelines available on the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website)

1pm, Tuesday 27 June:  Changes to the Opioid Dependence Treatment program: implications for access and transitional arrangements from 1 July 2023 (co-hosted with the Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League)

View a recording of the event here.

The Department of Health and Aged Care would like to thank participants for their questions. These questions will be considered by the Department and will inform future updates to factsheets and further communications.
Further information about the ODT changes will be published on the ODT website.

A Frequently Asked Questions factsheet has also been made available on the PBS website. This factsheet clarifies detailed questions regarding the ODT reforms which are not addressed in other factsheets.