How NSW will boost funding after Bondi Junction knife attack

The NSW Labor government will spend $111 million in this month’s budget on a sweeping package to support community mental health after Premier Chris Minns acknowledged that the Bondi Junction stabbing attacks highlighted cracks in the system.

Access to mental health treatment and the adequacy of funding have come under renewed focus after Joel Cauchi, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 17, killed six people in the Westfield shopping centre in April before he was shot dead by a police inspector.

Following the attacks, Minns said a government-funded independent coronial inquiry into the tragedy would probe whether the $2.7 billion spent by NSW on mental health each year – about half the amount spent on the NSW Police Force – was sufficient.

The six people killed in the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack: (clockwise from top left) Ashlee Good, Jade Young, Dawn Singleton, Yixuan Cheng, Faraz Tahir and Pikria Darchia.Credit:

“We have to answer the question as to whether that money is going in the right areas and is being spent most effectively,” Minns said after the April attacks.

Under the new funding, more than $30 million will be invested in expanding community mental health teams across the state, including in regional NSW, which will result in the creation of 35 extra mental health positions.

The funding will allow a focus on homeless people who slip through the cracks of the health system, may suffer from substance abuse and are at risk of landing in the criminal justice system.

Cauchi was known to be a rough sleeper in Queensland and NSW before the Bondi attacks.

There will also be $40 million over four years for the Pathways to Community Living Initiative (PCLI), which supports alternatives to long-term hospital care for people with persistent mental illness.

The government said the funding would boost a complex care clinical workforce of more than 25 professionals, with about 1200 people expected to receive support through the program.

The budget will also include $39 million to establish a new Mental Health Single Front Door to ease the pressure on the state’s emergency departments. Last year, 124,467 visits to NSW emergency departments were made for mental health.

About 25 per cent of those visits would have been suitable to receive support through other primary care settings, rather than presenting at a hospital, according to the NSW government.

NSW Premier Chris Minns at Bondi Junction the morning after the fatal attacks.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The existing so-called NSW Single Front Door is delivered through the national health advice service Healthdirect and currently provides virtual GP, virtual KIDS and urgent care services.

The new funding will allow the service to be expanded so those in need of mental health support can call Healthdirect and receive assessment advice from specialist clinicians and be connected with the appropriate services.

The premier said supporting mental health was more important than ever as research from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals people living with mental illness have a lower average life expectancy than the general population.

Its data shows men’s life expectancies are reduced by 15.9 years, and women’s 12 years.

“We know that people across the state are doing it tough right now and, for many in our community, mental health services are a vital lifeline when they need it most,” Minns said.

“Mental health is an important and ongoing conversation, and this funding is an important step in directly intervening to provide care for the people of NSW.”

Minister for Mental Health Rose Jackson said this was a big but initial step.

“Our government is committed to taking meaningful action to support the mental health of the people of NSW. Regardless of the complexity or duration of a patient’s experience, this package has been designed to offer help when it is needed,” Jackson said.

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