The ADHD rules where you live.

In New South Wales, if you think you may have ADHD, you start with a GP, who refers you to a psychiatrist, paediatrician or neurologist - those are the practitioners NSW Health authorises to diagnose you and to start stimulant treatment. An assessment may find that you do not have ADHD, or that stimulant medicine is not the right treatment for you, and non-stimulant medicines used for ADHD do not require NSW Health approval at all. Once a specialist has diagnosed you and your treatment has settled, a GP who holds the right NSW Health authority can take over your ongoing prescriptions - and the rule that catches people out most is that a NSW pharmacy cannot supply stimulant medicine unless the prescription carries a NSW approval number, no matter which state it was written in.

In Victoria the rules turn on which kind of medicine is involved. For stimulant medicines, the state runs a permit system: a psychiatrist can assess an adult and prescribe without a permit, while a GP has to apply to the Department of Health for one, and the department's policy is that it will generally only grant that where a specialist has already diagnosed you and reviewed you recently. Non-stimulant ADHD medicines sit outside that permit system entirely, so the permit rules are not a reason to wait for a specialist if a GP judges a non-stimulant is appropriate. Victoria has announced that 150 GPs will be trained to diagnose and treat ADHD themselves, but that training only runs across September and October 2026 and the law has not yet been changed to allow it, so on 21 August 2026 that route does not exist yet.

Since 1 December 2025, Queensland law has allowed a GP who holds specialist registration in general practice to assess an adult for ADHD and to start, adjust or continue stimulant medicines, up to a maximum daily dose set in the regulation for the particular medicine, without applying to Queensland Health for a separate approval. Psychiatrists can do the same for an adult of any age, and paediatricians can for adults under 25; other doctors, and any doctor who needs to go above that dose limit, have to apply for approval first, and for an adult that application has to name a psychiatrist who supports the treatment. Being allowed to prescribe is not the same as being obliged to: whether you are assessed, diagnosed or prescribed anything is a clinical decision, not every practice offers adult ADHD assessment, and non-stimulant ADHD medicines sit outside these rules altogether.

In Western Australia, an adult who needs a stimulant medicine for ADHD normally has to have that treatment started by a specialist - usually a psychiatrist - or by a GP who has completed the state's accredited ADHD training and appears on the health department's published list. After treatment has started, an ordinary GP or a nurse practitioner can write the ongoing prescriptions at the same dose under a shared care arrangement, provided the specialist stays involved and reviews an adult at least once every three years. If you already have a diagnosis and treatment from another state, WA does not make you start over: an interstate prescription can be filled at a WA pharmacy, and a WA doctor can take over - bring your records, your specialist's written instructions and the date you were last reviewed, because a WA prescriber has to check the state prescription monitoring system and confirm your history first.

In South Australia an adult can be assessed and diagnosed with ADHD by a relevant specialist doctor, and since 28 February 2026 also by a GP who has completed the RACGP's South Australian ADHD training, where that GP judges it clinically appropriate - the RACGP publishes the names of the GPs who finished that training. An assessment does not automatically lead to a diagnosis, and a diagnosis does not automatically lead to medicine; SA Health says severity is a matter for clinical judgement and that medicine should sit inside a broader program of support. If a stimulant medicine is prescribed, your doctor must get their own permission from SA Health's Drugs of Dependence Unit for you specifically once regular treatment runs past two months - and any time you have already spent on treatment with other doctors, including interstate, counts toward that two months.

In Tasmania, the diagnosis that matters for treatment is one made by a psychiatrist, paediatrician, sleep physician, neurologist, or a GP who has completed extra ADHD training - and before anyone can write a first prescription for a stimulant medicine, that prescriber must apply to the state Health Department for permission for that specific patient. The Department can approve the application, approve it with conditions, or refuse it, so permission is not automatic, and only one prescriber can hold it for a particular medicine at a time. A GP pathway to assess, diagnose and start treatment opened on 29 May 2026, but only 48 GPs had completed the training as at 12 August 2026 and there is no public list of them; a parliamentary inquiry reported in August 2026 that most Tasmanians are assessed privately, with long waits and significant cost.

In the ACT the rules below are about stimulant medicines, which are 'controlled medicines': an adult's ADHD diagnosis has to come from a psychiatrist, a paediatrician or a neurologist, and a GP cannot make that diagnosis or start stimulant treatment. Once a specialist has diagnosed you and your treatment is stable, a GP who has completed approved training and notified the Chief Health Officer can take over your ongoing prescriptions - that started on 11 February 2026, it is each GP's own decision whether to do it, and if you have had a long break from treatment you need a specialist review first. The ACT has said trained GPs will later be able to diagnose and start treatment as well, but as at 21 August 2026 that stage has not started, and as described it would still require a separate approval for each patient.

In the Northern Territory, an adult can only be started on stimulant medicine for ADHD by a specialist psychiatrist, neurologist or physician, or by a registrar training in one of those fields; there is no NT pathway that allows a GP to start it, and none had been published as at 21 August 2026. A GP can take over the ongoing prescribing afterwards, but only in shared care with that specialist, only with their own written approval from the NT Chief Health Officer for that individual patient, only while the specialist reviews the patient at least once every two years, and - under NT Health's published code - only for up to 10 such patients at a time. NT Health's own page also says a specialist may begin supply without an approval and must obtain one if supply goes beyond 30 days, which does not sit with the same page's rule that approval is required before a prescription is issued; NT Health's Medicines and Poisons Control section on (08) 8922 7341 is the place to have that resolved.