A Commonwealth Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Action Plan 2013-2016 was released in 2014. As part of this plan, five priority areas were identified and a Technical Network was established to oversee its implementation. This Network, chaired by Professor Elizabeth Elliott, made a recommendation to the Australian Government Department of Health (DoH) that a repository of all Australian FASD information should be developed.
In 2016 the DoH under the Substance Abuse Prevention and Service Improvement Grants Fund provided funds to the University of Sydney to commence the development of a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) online hub.
Between 2017 and 2019, the FASD Research Australia Centre of Research Excellence (CRE), led by the University of Sydney and Telethon Kids Institute, partnered with Menzies School of Health Research, the National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Australia (NOFASD) and the Australian & New Zealand FASD Clinical Network to develop and manage the FASD Hub. The FASD Hub was launched in September 2017.
In 2019, a consortium of eight organisations, with the support of the FASD Research Australia CRE, submitted an application and were successful in obtaining a grant under the DoH Drug and Alcohol Program. The organisations and supporting partners are:
- Telethon Kids Institute (Fund holder)
- University of Sydney
- Menzies School of Health Research
- University of Queensland
- Curtin University
- Griffith University
- NOFASD Australia
- Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE)
- Australian & New Zealand FASD Clinical Network
- Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI)