‘Too-hard basket’: The workplace stigma against one in five Australians

A quarter of bosses say they would not hire someone with bipolar disorder or depression, while the Albanese government has sat for a year on a national plan to combat mental health stigma in the workplace.

The 130-page document, seen by this masthead, calls on the government to introduce new laws to prevent vilification based on a person’s mental health, and to stop insurance companies hiking fees on people living with a mental illness.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler will meet his state counterparts later this month to discuss mental health reform.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The authors handed their report to federal Health Minister Mark Butler in June 2023. He has yet to respond with the government’s recommendations or release it publicly.

A source familiar with the strategy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, accused the government of putting mental health in the too-hard basket.

“Eradicating stigma is about not living a life in the shadows. So it’s not clear why this report should live there either,” the source said.

According to the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, which surveyed Australians aged 16 to 85 between 2020 and 2022, an estimated 4.3 million people – or 22 per cent of the population – had experienced a mental illness in the previous 12 months. The study also found that an estimated 8.5 million (43 per cent of the population) had experienced a mental illness in their lifetime.

The National Federation Reform Council – which included then prime minister Scott Morrison and the premiers, chief ministers, federal and state treasurers and the president of the Australian Local Government Association – tasked the National Mental Health Commission with developing the strategy in late 2020.

The final report states that one in four people surveyed would not employ someone with known bipolar disorder or depression, or who self-harmed. That figure rises to half of respondents when asked about prospective employees living with schizophrenia or borderline personality disorder.

It calls on the government to introduce a federal human rights charter and explicitly outlaw mental health-related vilification.

“The patchwork of … legislative and regulatory arrangements is leading to potential inconsistencies of experiences and outcomes,” the report states. “The protections offered to people with lived experience [of mental ill-health] under disability discrimination legislation may be limited by a lack of awareness or resonance with the concept of ‘disability’.”

The report also reveals that an overwhelming majority of people with complex mental health felt they had been treated unfairly by insurers.

It recommends government and industry work together to tackle high insurance premiums and unfavourable terms “not relevant or proportionate to their experience of mental health issues or suicidality”.

“A better balance is needed to ensure that risk assessments do not inappropriately exclude people with personal lived experience by basing assessments on stereotypes or misinformation, or by failing to take into account protective factors that may prevent distress escalating,” the report states.

The report notes that people with complex mental health needs can be less likely to seek out healthcare and are therefore at risk of dying as much as 20 years earlier than the general population.

National Mental Health Consumer Alliance chief executive Darren Munday called on the government to immediately release the strategy so it could inform an upcoming meeting of national mental health ministers scheduled to take place later this month.

“We need to move beyond mental health awareness-raising and take tangible steps to protect the human rights of people with mental health issues,” Munday said. “The only way to really do that is through a national human rights act.”

SANE Australia chief executive Rachel Green said those with a lived experience of mental ill-health who contributed to the report deserved to know the document wouldn’t just “gather dust on a shelf”.

“SANE has been working to break through the barriers of stigma and discrimination experienced by those living with complex, severe or long-term mental health conditions for almost 40 years,” Green said. “We’re eager to see the National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy ... released and implemented.”

Butler said he remained committed to transforming Australia’s mental health system into a “stepped care” model, in which the level of care is matched to a person’s need.

“In the May budget, the Albanese government continued the hard work of mental health reform, with funding for a national early intervention service and investment to ensure free on-call access to a psychologist and psychiatrist at every one of the 61 Medicare mental health centres opening across the country.

“The government acknowledges there is more to be done and is committed to doing the necessary work.”

An Albanese government spokeswoman added that while the stigma strategy had not been released publicly, it had been given to federal, state and territory health departments for consideration.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the mental health crisis could not be addressed while governments turned a “blind eye” to policy reform.

“Since coming into government, the Albanese government has slashed Medicare-subsidised psychology sessions in half, they have abolished the National Mental Health Commission, including the National Suicide Prevention Office, and the prime minister refused to meet with the chair of Australia’s mental health peak body,” she said.

“This government has made it clear that they do not consider mental health a national priority, and it’s not good enough.”

If you or someone you know need support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. SANE phone and digital support services can be accessed at sane.org. In the event of an emergency, dial Triple Zero (000).

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