Newsletters / Bulletins

Two of the key recommendations of our pre-Budget submission this year are to urgently address the gaps opening up in the mental health service system, and to address unprecedented levels of funding uncertainly – which is holding back co-investment and undermining mental health workforce and development. With this in mind, I have noticed a growing trend in our public reform discourse to suggest that where such problems exist, greater competition between services is the answer.

Today I have been in Melbourne with other representatives from across the sector to talk to government about the next draft of the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan.

Australia is a wonderful country. On Thursday you can be welcoming the Prime Minister to a Parliamentary Advocacy Day, and on Friday you can be dodging salt water crocodiles on a beach in East Arnhem Land! I left the exciting events of Parliament House last week, and travelled directly to Nhulunbuy, on the traditional lands of the Yolgnu people.

This week began with a surprise meeting, the Prime Minister inviting a small group to join him and the Minister for Health Greg Hunt to discuss the progress of mental health reform. It was very encouraging to see the Prime Minister and Minister Hunt listening with such interest, and to see a small group of representatives from diverse parts of the mental health sector presenting such a united front.