Sector hails free mental health service promise

Mental Health Australia (MHA) CEO Carolyn Nikoloski said the announcement was an important step towards a better mental health system for Australians.

“This is a landmark investment that recognises the challenges the community is facing, particularly young people” she said.

Nikoloski said with two-thirds of mental health issues emerging by the age of 25, and young people reporting cost is the most significant barrier to accessing mental health care, providing free access to help was vital.

“Against the backdrop of serious cost-of-living pressures, commitments to free and accessible care are more important than ever and will help deliver more equitable care across our communities.”

In a major announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the government has promised to:

• spend $225 million to either build or upgrade 31 Medicare mental health centres, which offer free and immediate mental health support 
  

• allocate more than $200 million to building or upgrading 58 Headspace services for young people

• commit $90 million to create 1,200 training places for mental health professionals and peer workers

• spend $500 million for 20 youth specialist care centres for young people with complex needs, such as personality disorders, eating disorders and early psychosis. 

The government announcement follows Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s commitment in his Budget reply speech to spending $400 million on youth mental health support.

Sector organisations said the funding injection was desperately needed, with rates of mental ill-health among young people increasing by 50 per cent between 2007 and 2022. Two out of five young people now struggle with their mental health.

Research cited by MHA recently revealed that 22 per cent of five-year-olds showed vulnerability to mental health issues in their first year of school.

Nikoloski said the proposed funding boost would also help address other critical issues in the mental health sector, such as by increasing the number of mental health workers to better meet community need.

Polling conducted on behalf of MHA in December revealed mental health was a major priority for voters this election, with 75 per cent of voters believing the federal government needed to do more to address the issue.

More than 63 per cent of voters said they would be more inclined to vote for a party committed to addressing accessibility of mental health services.

Jason Trethowan, CEO of national youth mental health foundation Headspace, was among those who welcomed the extra funding.

“It’s a strengthening of what we already have, and it will also build on what we don’t have and that is more services for young people with increasingly complex needs,” he told the ABC.

He said the funding commitments would "respond to the increasing and innovative ways for Headspace to provide support to more young people".

Professor Patrick McGorry, executive director of Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, described the government initiative as a "ground-breaking commitment".

"Australians will be relieved and grateful that a re-elected Albanese government will respond decisively to the youth mental health crisis," he said.

Not everyone in the sector was happy, however.

The Antipoverty Centre’s Kristin O’Connell said Canberra’s cash splurge on mental health added insult to injury for people living in poverty.

“It is no surprise that mental health services are under increasing strain as the government utterly fails in its response to spiralling living costs,” she said.

“There is not enough funding on the planet to improve the mental health of people experiencing distress because they are in poverty, homeless, in debt, because Centrelink payments are too low and exclude too many.”

O’Connell said that if Australians were not in such enormous financial distress, services would have more capacity to help people with complex psychosocial conditions that are exacerbated by the pressure of trying to survive without enough money to live on.

“There is no denying mental health services are under strain. That is because people whose health issues are caused by factors that are easily fixed are trying to get care.”

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