This is the third submission from the Mental Health Council of Australia ( MHCA ) to the National Mental Health Commission ( NMHC ) to inform the NMHC ’s current review of mental health programmes. It articulates the MHCA ’s priorities for the mental health system going forward. The contents are informed by detailed consultations with consumers and carers and other mental health stakeholders and proposes priorities and actions to drive long term policy and systemic reforms

The MHCA provided a submission to the Senate Inquiry into Affordable Housing. In our submission we recommended that people with lived experience of mental illness be recognised as a priority group in future housing and homelessness agreements; recommended that the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness be re-funded for a further five years; and endorsed the continuation of current strategies aimed at growing the community housing sector to ensure that there are increased housing options available for people with lived experience of mental illness.

The MHCA ’s 2014-15 budget submission proposes a range of no-cost, low-cost and long-standing recommendations that will help build an Australian mental health system that is holistic, integrated and that delivers better support for people with a lived experience of mental illness and their carers.

The central principles of the National Disability Insurance Scheme ( NDIS ) of consumer choice and control go to the heart of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s inquiry into equality before the law of people with disability. In this submission, the MHCA outlines concerns around equal recognition for people with psychosocial disability through the NDIS , including in relation to scheme design, service quality and safeguards, and supported decision-making.