Martin Whitely

Martin Whitely is a recently retired WA politician, teacher and author of Speed Up and Sit Still: The Controversies of ADHD. Martin made tackling what he terms the ‘ADHD Industry’ a major focus of his parliamentary work.

When Martin was elected to State Parliament in 2001, WA’s child ADHD prescribing rates were approximately three times the national average. Martin was successful in tightening WA’s prescribing accountability measures.

Subsequently Perth’s per-capita child prescribing rate and its teenage amphetamine abuse rate have fallen 50%.

Martin also highlighted conflict of interest issues that saw the draft Australian ADHD treatment guidelines abandoned and replaced by what he describes as more balanced process. He is currently completing a PhD on ‘ADHD and Regulatory Capture’ and volunteering with a ‘cash starved’ non-profit group he established called Drug Free Attention Difficulties Support.