ADHD - ABC/4 Corners April 2026

Contact - ABC Complaints

Apr 22, 2026, 2:57 AM GMT+10 

Good Morning,

My name is Jess Kennedy. I am a public speaker, educator, and advocate working across mental health, addiction, and ADHD.

I am writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding ABC’s coverage on Monday 20 April 2026, including Triple J Hack, ABC News, and the Four Corners program aired that evening.

I want to be clear: the impact of this coverage has been significant, harmful, and deeply disappointing.

I work extensively to reduce stigma, improve understanding, and advocate for systemic reform in ADHD care. In 2025, after unsuccessful engagement with the Victorian Government, I led a parliamentary petition advocating for the implementation of the 2024 Senate Inquiry recommendations into ADHD. This included expanding access to diagnosis and treatment through GP training. This reform was successfully legislated in March 2026, supported by lived experience advocacy and in collaboration with key stakeholders in government.

It is from this position—both professional and lived experience—that I raise serious concerns about your reporting.

Your coverage relied heavily on sensationalism, particularly around medication misuse and diagnostic trends, while failing to adequately represent the lived realities of people with ADHD. The framing presented adult diagnoses—particularly among women—as suspect or socially driven, rather than clinically valid and long overdue. This is not only inaccurate, but harmful.

You also referenced online communities, including Reddit and Facebook groups, in a way that I consider unethical. These spaces exist because formal systems are inaccessible, unaffordable, or inadequate. They are peer-led support networks where people seek understanding, safety, and shared experience. I personally run a community of over 20,000 members. Following your coverage, I witnessed a clear shift—members expressed fear, shame, anger, and concern about losing access to care. These communities have now been made to feel unsafe.

This is not a minor consequence.

For many adults diagnosed later in life, ADHD is not just a condition—it is a lens through which they reinterpret their entire life. Diagnosis often brings grief, particularly for women who are historically underdiagnosed and frequently only identified after their children. Your reporting failed to acknowledge this complexity and instead reduced it to narratives of “validation seeking.”

Additionally, your focus on medication misuse lacked balance. You did not meaningfully acknowledge:

- The structural barriers to accessing diagnosis and treatment  
- The reality of medication shortages  
- The functional necessity of medication for many individuals  
- The low rates of misuse relative to the population accessing treatment  

As someone in recovery from addiction linked to undiagnosed ADHD, I can tell you that this narrative is not only incomplete—it is misleading. The reality is that many people with ADHD struggle with consistency, including remembering to take prescribed medication. This context matters.

I also question whether lived experience voices were meaningfully consulted in the development of this content. Their absence is evident in both tone and framing.

This coverage represented a missed opportunity to educate the public, reduce stigma, and highlight the urgent need for systemic reform. Instead, it has contributed to fear, misunderstanding, and potential harm for an already vulnerable community.

I welcome the opportunity to engage in constructive discussion with your team regarding this matter. 

I also note that I am prepared to escalate this complaint to relevant professional bodies and government stakeholders if required.

I request a formal response within 10 working days.

Kind regards,  

Jess Kennedy

—

Jess Kennedy  
www.jesskennedy.com.au  
contact@jesskennedy.com.au  
0422 682 302  
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia