Australia has a quiet crisis on its hands. The antibiotics we have relied on for decades are slowly losing their power - and most Australians have no idea.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria evolve to survive the drugs designed to kill them. The more antibiotics we use, the faster resistance spreads. When antibiotics stop working, routine surgeries, cancer treatment, and aged care become life-threatening.
This data story explores three dimensions of Australia’s AMR crisis using data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC).
For years, Australia made progress. Antibiotic prescriptions steadily fell from 2015 to 2021, a sign that stewardship programs were working.
Then came COVID-19, which briefly suppressed prescribing even further. But since 2022, use has climbed back up.
Critically, resistance did not follow the same dip - it kept rising throughout.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2026). Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriptions: monthly data (Cat. no. HWE 98). AIHW.
Antibiotic use varies significantly across Australia. Queensland consistently records the highest use rate, while the ACT records the lowest among mainland states.
All states have reduced use since 2015 - but the reductions have been uneven.
The Northern Territory appears to have very low rates, but this reflects limited PBS data capture for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services rather than genuinely lower use.
Bubble size = age-standardised prescription rate per 1,000 people.
Source: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2025). Antimicrobial use in the community: 2024. ACSQHC. Figures 7 and 8, pp. 19-20.
While overall community antibiotic use has declined since 2015, prescriptions to aged care residents have surged.
In 2024, aged care home residents accounted for just 0.7% of Australia’s population yet received 2.8% of all antibiotic prescriptions.
More than three in four aged care residents received at least one antibiotic that year - and the rate keeps climbing.
Aged care facilities are breeding grounds for resistant bacteria. Overuse in these settings accelerates the very resistance that makes antibiotics ineffective for everyone.
Source: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2025). Antimicrobial use in the community: 2024. ACSQHC. Table 5, p. 25.
Antimicrobial resistance is not a future problem. It is happening now, in every hospital, every aged care home, and every GP clinic in Australia.
When bacteria become resistant to our last-resort antibiotics, there is nothing left to prescribe. Infections that were once easily treated become fatal. The ACSQHC warns that urgent action is needed to reverse the upward trend, particularly in aged care settings.
The drugs are dying. The question is whether we act before it is too late.
Anthropic. (2025). Claude (Version Sonnet 4.6) [Large language model]. https://www.anthropic.com
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2025). Antimicrobial use in the community: 2024. ACSQHC. https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2026). Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriptions: monthly data (Cat. no. HWE 98). AIHW. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/medicines/pbs-monthly-data