Mental Health Australia’s report card – Election 2016

Mental Health Australia has today published the responses of the major political parties to its call for long-term commitments to mental health reform.

“Mental Health Australia renews its call for our political leaders to commit to real targets for improving the lives of people affected by mental illness as part of this election campaign,” said Mental Health Australia CEO Frank Quinlan.

“We know mental health is a very high priority in the electorate, with one in five Australians experiencing a mental illness each year. We hope the last weeks of the election campaign will see a renewed focus on fixing Australia’s broken mental health system.”

Mental Health Australia has produced a report card outlining the commitments of the Coalition, Labor and the Greens on five key issues:

  • A reduction in the national suicide rate
  • Improvements in the physical health of people with a mental illness
  • Increased employment rates for mental health consumers and carers
  • An increase in mental health consumer and carer participation and choice in national policy design and implementation
  • Support for the full reinvestment of cost efficiencies and savings into mental health programs and services.

In particular, Mental Health Australia welcomes the commitment from the ALP and the Australian Greens to reduce the national suicide rate by 50% in ten years, and asks the Coalition to match this commitment.

The Coalition’s response to date has reiterated its commitment to achieving systemic reform largely through a regional approach to mental health service delivery via Primary Health Networks.

“The mental health system is in the midst of unprecedented change and it is more important than ever for our political leaders to provide national leadership, with investment guided by whole-of-life targets for improving mental health outcomes, and specific indicators to demonstrate progress and performance,” said Mr Quinlan.

Mental Health Australia’s full report card, along with each of the parties’ full responses, can be downloaded here – https://mhaustralia.org/election-2016

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