2 states open
Queensland (since 1 December 2025) and South Australia (GPs with additional training).
2 opening soon
Victoria expected September 2026; New South Wales around September or October 2026.
$467.45
The Medicare rebate on a psychiatrist video assessment, item 92435, wherever the GP route is closed.
Part 1 of 4
What does each state and territory allow?
Queensland opened GP diagnosis on 1 December 2025 with no extra training required. South Australia runs the trained GP model. New South Wales and Victoria are training GPs now with prescribing expected around September and October 2026. Western Australia runs a restricted pathway with trained GPs prescribing since early 2026, Tasmania began authorising trained GPs from mid 2026, the Australian Capital Territory opened GP continuation prescribing in February 2026, and the Northern Territory has announced nothing.
Queensland
Your GP can diagnose ADHD and start medication for adults now. No specialist referral is needed, and no extra training is required of them. This has been the case since 1 December 2025.
- GP route open
What to know. Book a long appointment with your usual GP and say you want to talk about ADHD assessment. Long appointments give the conversation room, and a GP who knows your history starts ahead.
South Australia
Your GP can diagnose ADHD and prescribe, once they have completed additional training. Not every GP has done it, so it is worth asking when you book.
- GP route open
What to know. Ring your practice and ask whether any of their GPs have completed the ADHD prescribing training. If yes, book long with that GP. If no, ask which nearby practice has, or fall back to the psychiatrist route.
New South Wales
Not yet, for starting treatment. Right now a GP can only continue a prescription a specialist, a psychiatrist or often a paediatrician for children, already started. About 300 GPs began additional training in March 2026 and are expected to be able to diagnose and start treatment from around September or October 2026.
- Opening in stages
What to know. If you can wait a few months, the GP path gets much cheaper. If you cannot, a psychiatrist assessment by video attracts the same Medicare rebate as an in person one, and video means you can see a psychiatrist anywhere in Australia.
Victoria
Not yet. 150 GPs start training in September 2026 and are expected to begin prescribing from around late 2026.
- Opening in stages
What to know. If waiting is not realistic, a psychiatrist assessment by video attracts the full Medicare rebate, and Victoria has two university psychology clinics on our resources page that assess for much less than private fees.
Western Australia
A restricted pathway. Trained GPs began independent diagnosis and prescribing from early 2026, and the state expects all 65 to be trained by August 2026.
- Restricted pathway only
What to know. A psychiatrist assessment by video is the reliable route for now, and it attracts the same Medicare rebate as in person. ADHD WA, the state support organisation, is worth knowing regardless of route.
Tasmania
Opening now. GP training began in May 2026 and the first GPs authorised to diagnose and start treatment were expected from around mid 2026.
- Opening in stages
What to know. A psychiatrist assessment by video is the reliable route for now. Video assessment matters more in Tasmania than almost anywhere: it removes the flight to the mainland from the exercise.
Australian Capital Territory
Opening in stages. Since 11 February 2026 a trained GP can continue ADHD medicines for stable patients aged six and over; GP diagnosis is announced for later in 2026.
- Opening in stages
What to know. A psychiatrist assessment by video is the reliable route for now, and the ACT publishes clear official pages on how ADHD care currently works, linked below.
Northern Territory
No ADHD prescribing reform has been announced.
- No reform announced
What to know. A psychiatrist assessment by video is the reliable route, and psychiatry is exempt from the usual telehealth rule requiring an existing relationship with the practice, which matters when the nearest psychiatrist is a long way away.
Part 2 of 4
Why does your state decide this?
ADHD stimulants are Schedule 8 controlled medicines, and Schedule 8 prescribing authority is state and territory law. Each health department runs its own permit system, which is why the same medicine, the same patient and the same GP produce different answers on different sides of a border.
That is also why reform arrives state by state rather than nationally: each government changes its own rules on its own timetable, usually by training a cohort of GPs first. The federal Senate inquiry into ADHD services recommended harmonisation, and the state reforms since are the practical response.
The regulators themselves are linked on every state guide above, and in the state section of the resources directory.
Part 3 of 4
The route that works everywhere, today
A GP referral to a psychiatrist, by video. The rebate is identical to in person, $467.45 on item 92435, claimable once every 12 months, and the psychiatrist can be in any state. A typical wait is around twelve months, a typical private fee is about $1,400 before the rebate, and the gap between clinics is the whole game.
Three questions protect you: the gap after the rebate in writing, the wait for the medication appointment rather than the first call, and the assessing practitioner's name checked against the Ahpra register. The cost guide runs the full bill, and the resources page lists the checks before paying any telehealth clinic.
If money is the blocker, university psychology clinics assess for a fraction of private fees and are listed, with fees pages, in the money section.
Part 4 of 4
What changes next, and when this page changes
Victoria starts training 150 GPs in September 2026 with prescribing expected from around late 2026, and New South Wales expects GP diagnosis from around September or October 2026. Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory are both opening in stages. This page is updated when any of that moves.
If you are months from a cheaper route in your state, waiting can be the rational move; if the cost of waiting is another failed semester or job, the video route exists now. The recognition tool is the zero cost first step either way.
The combination of autism and ADHD changes the assessment conversation before it starts; the AuDHD explainer covers what to ask for.
Does this page sound like you?
The recognition tool sorts thirty-two of these experiences into ADHD flavoured, autistic flavoured and common to both, and shows where your ticks sit. Two minutes, nothing leaves your device, and it is a mirror, not a test.
The short version
Quick answers
Which states let a GP diagnose ADHD right now?
Queensland, since 1 December 2025, with no extra training required, and South Australia, where GPs who have completed additional training can diagnose and prescribe. Everywhere else a GP cannot yet start treatment, though several states allow GPs to continue existing prescriptions.
When do New South Wales and Victoria open?
New South Wales GPs began endorsed training in March 2026, with diagnosis expected from around September or October 2026. Victoria starts training 150 GPs in September 2026, with prescribing expected from around late 2026. Until then, GPs there can continue prescriptions a psychiatrist started, and video psychiatrist assessment remains the working route.
Why do the rules differ by state at all?
ADHD stimulants are Schedule 8 controlled medicines, and Schedule 8 prescribing authority is state and territory law, not Commonwealth law. Each health department decides who may prescribe and under what permit, which is why crossing a border changes your options.
What do I do if my state has not opened the GP route?
A GP referral to a psychiatrist, ideally by video: the rebate is the same $467.45 on item 92435 as in person, the psychiatrist can be anywhere in Australia, and the question that saves you money is what the gap is after the rebate, in writing. University psychology clinics, listed on our resources page, are the reduced fee alternative.