Author: admin

The Minns Labor Government’s landmark ADHD reforms have helped New South Wales families save roughly $10 million each year in out-of-pocket fees to access scripts for ADHD medication, according to analysis by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RACGP).

Nearly 10,000 people have avoided long wait times and expensive specialist fees, providing real cost of living relief thanks to the Minns Government’s life-changing reforms.

Under the reforms, people can access a repeat prescription for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication from their general practitioner (GP) rather than a psychiatrist, saving families anywhere between $250 to $670 per visit.

These changes have also eased pressure on the specialist system, with nearly 10,000 fewer people needing to see specialists for routine care — freeing up appointments for those with more complex needs.

Savings are expected to grow as more GPs join a growing cohort of continuation prescribers.

There are now more than 1,100 GPs across NSW able to prescribe repeat ADHD psychostimulant scripts, giving people, especially children and young people, improved and more affordable access to their medication.

The reform has also expanded access for people living in rural and regional areas of NSW, with 44 per cent of those GPs located outside of metropolitan Sydney.

As part of the Minns Government’s reforms, 311 GPs have commenced training to be able to diagnose and treat ADHD which will give even more people access to life-changing treatment.

The 311 GPs currently undergoing training are located across the state including on the Central Coast, Far West NSW, the Hunter, the Illawarra, the Mid North Coast, the Nepean and Sydney.

Applications for GPs wishing to express their interest in future training rounds remain open and GPs can apply to become a continuation prescriber at any time.

Patients looking to find an ADHD medication continuation prescriber can search here.

NSW Premier Chris Minns:

“Our landmark ADHD reforms are helping NSW families right when they need it. As cost-of-living pressures eat into household budgets, this reform is putting money back in people’s pockets.

“These reforms make sense, we’re making it easier for people to access healthcare.

“Importantly, the reforms improving access for our regional areas too, access to essential healthcare should be available to everyone, regardless of where they live.”

Minister for Health Ryan Park:

“The health system’s capacity to support people with ADHD continues to go from strength to strength, as more GPs come on board as part of our reforms.            

“We know that more than 9,800 people have now avoided the long waits, high costs, and stress associated with accessing a specialist to get their scripts filled.

“This is a win for everyone, and I am so pleased to see our rural and regional GPs embracing these reforms.  We heard people in those areas loud and clear when they said they needed another option and we have delivered.”

Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson:

“We’re changing the way people access ADHD care—more than 37,900 prescriptions already issued by GPs, getting people the care they need, faster.

“That is literally millions of dollars back in the pockets of hardworking families, who can now access scripts from their family GP for a fraction of the cost.

“We’ve been told that these reforms are life-changing and this is why. This reform is improving options for people, saving families time, money, and heartache.

“It’s also freeing up waiting rooms so that the people who actually need to see those specialists can get a spot. This is exactly the kind of common sense reform that Labor is delivering to improve access to healthcare in our state.”

RACGP NSW Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman:

“These reforms show what’s possible when governments trust GPs to deliver ongoing, high‑quality care within a safe and structured framework.

“Allowing appropriately trained GPs to prescribe ADHD medication has reduced costs for families, cut wait times, and improved access to care, particularly for children and young people.

“GPs are the right place for ongoing ADHD care for many patients. This reform has eased pressure on an overstretched specialist system while ensuring care remains coordinated, evidence‑based and centred around the patient.

“We’re particularly encouraged to see the strong uptake in rural and regional NSW. For families outside metropolitan areas, these changes are genuinely life‑changing, removing expensive travel, long waits and unnecessary barriers to care.

“The RACGP supports reforms that improve access while maintaining patient safety. Continued investment in GP training and clear clinical pathways will be essential to ensure these reforms remain sustainable and deliver long‑term benefits for patients and the health system.”

The Albanese Government will more than double investment in counter drones for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with up to $7 billion allocated under the Integrated Investment Program (IIP) over the next decade.

As part of the major boost in investment, the Albanese Government today announced two initial contracts for Aussie made next-generation counter‑drone platforms.

The investment is part of the Government’s plan to spend billions more on drone and counter drone platforms over the decade, in line with the recently‑released 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program.

With the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East showing how uncrewed aerial systems are increasingly being employed in conflict, the development of sovereign counter-drone solutions is essential to ensure the ADF can detect, assess and respond to these threats.

The initial investments of $21.3 million in AIM Defence and $10.4 million in SYPAQ Systems has been awarded through the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator’s (ASCA) Mission Syracuse.

This will enable AIM Defence to further enhance the capability and combat readiness of its high-powered counter-drone laser system, Fractl, to counter individual and swarms of drones. This portable high energy laser system is capable of tracking objects as small as a 10-cent piece at more than 100kph and powerful enough to burn through steel.

SYPAQ Systems will build on their expertise in affordable, high performance uncrewed air vehicles to develop the Corvo Strike, an interceptor drone designed to track, target and destroy larger drones now commonly employed on battlefields.

ASCA will also facilitate the integration of these systems into the ADF’s existing control system being delivered under LAND156.

While Australia’s unique geography has driven a focus on larger drones, the Government’s efforts under Mission Syracuse will accelerate the deployment of advanced capabilities designed to counter medium‑sized drones and swarms of small drones that our personnel could encounter in complex operational environments abroad or while protecting people and infrastructure domestically.

The Albanese Government has allocated up to $22 billion for drone, counter-drone and autonomous system technologies over the decade in the 2026 Integrated Investment Program.

Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy:

“The Albanese Government is building a stronger and more resilient defence industry through investing in Australian innovation, skills and disruptive technologies that will keep Australians safe.

“The Government’s record investment in defence through the 2026 Integrated Investment Program includes record investment in drone and counter-drone capabilities – ensuring Australia can respond to threats to Australia’s security.

“With the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East showing how uncrewed aerial systems are increasingly being employed in conflict, the development of sovereign counter-drone solutions is essential to ensure the Australian Defence Force can detect, assess and respond to these threats.”

Head Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, Major General Hugh Meggitt:

“Mission Syracuse will exploit Australian industry’s world leading expertise in kinetic and directed energy to find, fix, track, target and engage Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). It will significantly enhance the ADF’s ability to counter the threat posed by UAVs employed by malicious actors; domestically and abroad.”

Labor Premier Chris Minns has taken the extraordinary step of rebuking the Supreme Court’s finding that social cohesion is not a legitimate reason to restrict the right to protest, and accused a peaceful community opposed to genocide of being violent offenders.

Premier Minns has also restated his commitment to more likely unconstitutional laws to prohibit certain phrases that he disagrees with.

Greens MP, Solicitor and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson said:

“The Premier has launched an extraordinary attack on our independent judiciary today, showing complete contempt for the Constitution, and our right to political expression – all in an attempt to violently subdue our democratic rights. He is walking a dangerous line and I don’t think it will end well for him,”

“Hundreds of witnesses have provided evidence about the unprovoked assault by Police against the community on the night of 9 February. The Premier is gaslighting our state by suggesting the community is to blame for the violence they experienced,”

“Even Members of his own Labor Party witnessed unprovoked violence committed by the Police that night. The Premier should be reminded that people speaking in public is no justification for violent assault and control,”

“The actions by the Premier and the Police caused serious harm and the Police relied on powers that were unlawful. For the Premier and the Police Commissioner to double down in the face of this failure and say ‘oh well we had the Major Event Declaration as back up’, likely won’t cut it in the Courts,”

“I have no doubt the Major Events Declaration will now also be challenged in the current context. The Premier and Police Commissioner need to stand down and do the right thing. They need to accept that they got it wrong and stop these bad prosecutions against the community. The Premier should not squander this opportunity to de-escalate and do the right thing,”

“That night, a peaceful crowd of several thousand people declared a desire to march through the city to Parliament House, as is their right. In response to the Premier’s orders, the Police kettled the crowd into a tight area and then proceeded to deploy chemical weapons and force against families, elderly people, and a community that has rallied peacefully for more than two years,”

“Chris Minns is not above the law. He needs to stop undermining our democracy. First protest, now the courts, I am worried about just how far he will go to punish people that disagree with his vision for society,” Ms Higginson said.

Amid reports that Labor may exclude people with a psychosocial disability from the NDIS, and cut help from others to eat, bathe and shower;  the Greens say they will not support cuts to the NDIS.

Labor is reportedly considering changes to Supported In-home Living (SIL) and excluding participants with a psychosocial disability.

In making these cuts, Labor would be leaving many disabled people unable to eat, bathe, and go to work, and booting people who have no other affordable services available to them off the NDIS entirely.

These cuts to the NDIS are in a context where governments have failed disabled people for years, through lack of investment in publicly available supports, things like high-quality accessible public housing with shared supports, and mental health in Medicare, and the low rate of the Disability Support Pension.

The Greens say they will not back NDIS cuts that look set to leave vulnerable people without any other options.

Senator Jordon Steele-John, Greens Disability spokesperson said:

“The Greens will not support more cuts to the NDIS or Labor’s attempts to balance the budget off the back of disabled people.

“Labor are spending their days before the budget trying to pick which group is least deserving of having the support they need to live a decent life.

“These Labor cuts would leave disabled people unable to bathe or eat, and push people with psychosocial disability out of the only supports they get.

“The community are telling me they’re scared. Yet again, the government are talking about massive cuts to the NDIS without clarity and with nowhere to turn to, it’s leaving everyone on edge.

“Labor’s trying to choose a group in the disabled community they think is the weakest target – but disabled people are used to fighting for their basic rights, and the Greens will back them the entire way.

“The government must not cut critical disability supports to balance their budget, while allowing big corporations to avoid paying their fair share of tax and letting fossil fuel subsidies soar.”

“Twenty years on from ‘Debt free day’ marking the Coalition paying off Labor’s debt, the Coalition has had to launch a digital debt clock as Federal debt teeters near $1 trillion, with Labor’s only plan to double-down and borrow further”, said Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson.

“Labor claims higher taxes are good for young Australians, but the truth is the opposite. Every dollar of debt Labor accumulates today is a tax on a young Australian tomorrow. That is not intergenerational equity it is intergenerational theft. Only by getting spending under control and paying down debt can we restore fairness for the next generation”, said Shadow Minister for Finance Senator Claire Chandler.

Mr Wilson and Senator Chandler’s comments follow the release of the debt clock. The debt clock, publicly accessible at https://debtclock.au, tracks the total Australian Government Securities on issue. Following the maturity of $40 billion in debt today, the total stands at $957 billion. The clock also tracks the cumulative interest bill under Labor already over $80 billion in just four years in government.

“The Federal debt is now equivalent to ten credit cards per Australian, and with every dollar of debt it is just more petrol on the inflation fire”, Mr Wilson said.

“The greatest intergenerational policy is to let the next generation of Australians decide their own destiny with opportunity, not be born into debt servicing servitude and a zero sum race to the redistribution bottom”.

“Jim Chalmers’ active inflation agenda depends on continuing to borrow, and young Australians are hit three times over: painful inflation, debt servicing, and then repayment through higher taxes”.

“In the economy Labor built for them, small and family businesses and the self-employed are punished today, and young Australians pay in perpetuity”.

“At $25 billion a year in debt servicing, and rising, Labor’s interest bill could fund 200,000 additional nurses, or 400,000 aged care home packages, or one thousand kilometres of major regional highway upgrades, or a tax cut worth $1,600 a year for every taxpayer. Instead it is going to debt servicing because Labor cannot stop spending”, Mr Wilson said.

Alongside falling real wages, higher tax bills, and surging interest rates, this is the genuine cost of Labor’s out-of-control spending, which is now at its highest level in 40 years outside the pandemic.

Under the budget settings the Coalition left Labor in 2022, the budget would have been in surplus in every one of the last four years. We would have been paying down the debt rather than growing it. Instead, Labor has no plan to return the budget to surplus at any point in the next decade. National debt is on track to hit $1.2 trillion in three years and $1.5 trillion within a decade.

“The Howard-Costello government inherited 18.1 per cent of GDP in net debt from Labor in 1996. Through a decade of disciplined management they brought it to zero. That strong foundation prepared Australia for the Global Financial Crisis. The Coalition that followed the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years did the same, bringing discipline back to the budget and preparing us for the COVID-19 pandemic”, Senator Chandler said.

After just four years of the Albanese Labor government, net debt is already at 20.1 per cent of GDP more than Labor left the Coalition in 1996. Even before the Iran crisis it was set to reach 22.6 per cent of GDP within three years. Labor’s recklessness has left us exposed at exactly the moment when we need fiscal strength.

“Only a Coalition government can restore the fiscal discipline needed to bring debt under control and stop the never-ending burden being placed on Australians. Our mission is to restore living standards, cut the cost of living, and protect the Australian way of life and none of that is possible while Labor keeps spending money Australians do not have”, Mr Wilson said.