submission

This paper highlights the priority areas for strategic investment and funding support from the Commonwealth Government in the 2011-12 Budget outside of the proposed National Health and Hospitals Network reforms.

The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission made twelve specific recommendations for immediate action for mental health. The government’s response has been to provide a minimum of new funding for just two of the twelve recommendations. This paper analyses the direction and management of the 2010 National Health and Hospitals Network Agreement.

The MHCA commends the Therapeutic Goods Administration for examining methods to improve transparency of regulatory processes and looks forward to further work in this area. The TGA needs to be open to the input of stakeholders, particularly consumers and carers, to ensure it is catering to their information needs. Mechanisms for stakeholder input beyond invitations to respond to a review should be examined.

The MHCA broadly supports the introduction of Flexible Care Packages for treatment in primary care settings for use by mental health consumers.

The National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum and the MHCA strongly support the development and implementation of a National Carer Strategy, in particular a consideration of issues for specific groups, as their needs and issues are quite distinct form other carers.

The MHCA strongly supports Australia ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities . We are pleased that a number of articles explicitly refer to mental illness. However, there are areas that could be strengthened, particularly discrimination on the basis of disability. Freedom from cruel or inhuman treatment and protecting the integrity of the person are key mental health consumer issues and need greater attention within the mental health sector. Employment and housing support are essential areas of focus to ensure people with mental illness-related disability are encouraged to fully participate as members of their community.

The MHCA and the NMHCCF strongly support the development of a social insurance scheme for disability long-term care and support in Australia. The scheme should be designed around people with a disability developing their own support packages and becoming purchasers of the services they need.

Any consideration of the needs of older Australians must look at how well their mental health needs are being met. To enable these improvements, the Australian Government must acknowledge and act on the recommendations of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission’s final report A Healthier Future for all Australians , in the areas of mental health and aged care.

This submission emphasises that the key outcomes agreed at the April COAG meeting and the initiative announced thereafter do little to address the crisis in the mental health sector in Australia and will do little to reduce the health system’s reliance on hospitals in the short term.

This submission discusses the negative impact that Internet use can have on young people. In particular, cyber-bullying and the risk of mental health issues, as well as the worst case scenario outcome of suicide.