Marjorie Collins: Mental health conspicuously overlooked from federal budget, despite key recommendations

As we head to a Federal election on May 3, health has been placed at the forefront, with both major parties promising more than $8 billion for Medicare rebates to see a GP. While this is a positive step for the health of the nation, and better support for GPs, what was noticeably absent in the recent Federal Budget were any policies addressing the mental health crisis in Australia. The Coalition promised a further $400 million investment into youth mental health services in its Budget reply, which we welcome, but this figure is a drop in the bucket compared to other spending commitments from the major parties who’ve promised billions of dollars for highway upgrades and a nuclear energy plan costed at about $300 billion. Former Australian of the Year and mental health expert Patrick McGorry warns of a “deep silence” on mental health issues, saying it is increasingly clear those with mental illness were not being prioritised. Even Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has described the plight of people with severe mental illness as “a stain on our nation”. It defies belief then, that our major political parties do not place a higher priority on mental health, especially given the scale of the problem which shows one in five Australians aged 16-85 years — 4.3 million people — and one in seven younger Australians experiencing a mental health disorder in the last year. There have been many reviews, commissioned by different governments, recommending the means to improve mental health service provision but key recommendations still have not been implemented. The number of Medicare rebated sessions for psychology represents another drop in the bucket in overall funding. It funds an inadequate number of sessions for most patients. Here, the Government ignored recommendations of the evaluation of Better Access initiative to continue 20 rebated psychology sessions per year, with Minister Butler instead slashing rebated sessions in half. As noted by many, a mere 10 rebated sessions for psychology are insufficient, in most cases, to complete a course of treatment. So far, the current Government is the only major party to not promise a significant increase in Medicare rebated sessions per year. Another drop in the bucket are workforce training initiatives. We need appropriately trained professionals to deliver services. Currently the psychology workforce is a mere 35 per cent of the Government target, yet there are not nearly enough university places to train more psychologists. Yes, in this term the Government provided grant funding to create 500 additional places over four years. When you look at the fine print, however, this is another drop in the bucket, equating to a mere six extra graduates per year from 22 universities. What is needed is an increase in recurrent funding through Commonwealth Supported postgraduate places to adequately grow the psychology profession over time. How could we better support the training of an adequate number of psychologists? The Commonwealth Practical Payment initiative introduced by this government to support nurses, teachers and social workers on their practical training could be extended to psychology students who must complete 300 to 1000 hours of unpaid practical training as part of their degree. We could also consider waiving the HECs debt of psychology graduates who set up practice in a rural or regional area, fund postgraduate psychology registrars, and provide scholarships for student placements in rural and regional areas, where workforce shortfalls of mental health professionals are particularly dire and access to mental health treatment is rendered more difficult by distance and fewer options. Is investing in mental health care too expensive for the nation? No. The productivity of our nation stands to improve with adequate mental health care to the tune of $180 billion annually according to a Productivity Commission inquiry in 2020. The figures demonstrate the economic utility of investing in the mental health of Australians, not to mention the impact improved mental health would have on the nation’s collective well being. Australia’s next government must fill up the bucket with appropriate policy development, co-ordinating across State and Federal health systems, with more investment and resources devoted to mental health. We understand the competing political interests at play during our current cost-of-living crisis, and understand that many Australians are doing it tough, but we ignore the deep silence on our mental health crisis at our peril, and risk even greater harms for future generations without urgent action. Dr Marjorie Collins is the president of the Institute of Clinical Psychologists. Professor Caroline Hunt is the president of the Australian Clinical Psychology Association.