CEO Update - Here's hoping for real reform!

Here’s hoping for real reform!

Happy New Year and I hope you managed a restful and relaxing break with family and friends.

Seven years ago this month, Professor Patrick McGorry AO was named Australian of the Year. Bestowed for his tireless work in mental health for young Australians, the honour helped him, and the mental health sector promote the wider cause and continue to reduce stigma.

Such an accolade, and the work of many more since has also helped change the language, change the landscape, and change people’s attitudes towards mental health.

This week, we have welcomed a new Minister for Health in The Hon Greg Hunt MP from Flinders in Victoria, representing areas such as Frankston, the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island.

In his opening press conference Minister Hunt mentioned his lived experience caring for his mother, and said ’I want mental health to be a critical part of my time in this role’. The signs are encouraging!

Yesterday we wrote to Minster Hunt to congratulate him on his appointment, and to highlight the urgency we face around mental health reform and decisions that cannot wait. I was also pleased to be able to speak directly with Minister Hunt about the letter, and to start the conversation about how we best address these issues.

Issues such as the inadequacy of the draft Fifth National Mental Health Plan following our extensive consultations with the sector, which among many things have highlighted alarming gaps between this draft and previous commitments made by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on mental health.

Issues like our concern that the Government is currently on track to oversee a reduction in per capita funding for community based mental health, moving in the opposite direction to that recommended by the National Mental Health Commission’s 2014 review.

And the ongoing concern that will see the Government simultaneously withdraw essential psychosocial support from both the Department of Health and Department of Social Services portfolios in order to meet its agreement to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). 

As we have said many times, the NDIS will make some 64,000 places available to support people with a psychosocial disability, while on the Government’s own estimate 230,000 of the 690,000 Australians who experience severe mental illness each year will need psychosocial support.

These numbers do not add up, and neither do the dollars.

To hear Minister Hunt talk about mental health as a critical part of his agenda is a good start but there is still much to do.

In 2010 Australia was provided with a fantastic opportunity to discuss mental health in a positive and progressive way, but progress has been slow. 

We now have a Health Minister who wants to awaken that discussion, and on the face of it, a Prime Minister who is also keen to lend his support.  It is up to us in the sector to ensure that discussion turns into real reform, and real supports for consumers and carers.

Enjoy a mini break next Thursday for Australia… enjoy some lamb even. And here’s to a 2017 where we as a nation continue to talk about mental health, and back up that talk with real action.

Frank Quinlan
Chief Executive Officer
 

Mental Health Australia Parliamentary Advocacy Day
Thursday 23 March in Canberra

Mental Health Australia Members are reminded of the unique opportunity to meet with members and senators at the 2017 Parliamentary Advocacy Day to be held at Parliament House on Thursday 23 March (we have already invited Minister Hunt to join us for this event).

With more than 80 delegates likely to meet with some 40 federal members and senators, the Parliamentary Advocacy day is invaluable chance for the sector to continue the push for real mental health reform.

This year, with far reaching reforms such as the regionalisation of planning and commissioning through Primary Health Networks, and the ongoing roll out of the NDIS now underway, many questions need to be asked and challenges remain:

• How can the expansion of community based mental health services, recommended by the National Mental Health Commission and recognised as a priority by all governments, be progressed?
• How can we manage the interface between the NDIS and other programs providing psychosocial support for people who experience mental illness?
• How can we ensure that the implementation of “stepped care” does not inadvertently create gaps in services, especially for people with severe mental illness?
• With roles and responsibilities between the Commonwealth and states/territories still unclear, how can we avoid negative unintended consequences during a period of unprecedented reform?

The Parliamentary Advocacy Day is offered exclusively to Members, and to find out more about becoming a member of Mental Health Australia please click here.