The plan to unify Australia’s fractured mental health systems

Australians struggling with their mental health will be able to call a new national hotline that will book them in for treatment in a bid to unify Australia’s fractured mental health system across eight states and territories.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews have been consulting closely on reform ahead of the Commonwealth’s commitment to have a national mental health agreement by November.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention David Coleman is confident the state and federal governments can work together.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention David Coleman is optimistic other states are also keen to help address gaps in the system.

“I think everyone recognises that 2021 is a really big opportunity,” he told this masthead in an interview following the budget, which included $2.3 billion for mental health.

But reform is made difficult by the fact the mental health system, like healthcare more generally, is split into federal and state responsibilities.

“The Prime Minister and Premier Andrews, I think it’s fair to say both share a real passion for this issue,” Mr Coleman said.

“I think there’s a genuine goodwill on the part of all the states and territories to improve the system, and everyone acknowledges that it needs improvement.”

The federal government’s $2.3 billion budget commitment on mental health follows the last year’s Productivity Commission report, Mental Health Commission chief executive Christine Morgan’s suicide prevention report, and the final report from the Victorian mental health royal commission that was released earlier this year.

In the federal budget the Commonwealth unveiled a funding package that included money for 57 child, youth and adult mental health treatment centres, spending on the mental health workforce and $100 million that will measure and evaluate all the changes to the sector.

Mr Coleman said he was also focused on unifying mental health services across the country.

That includes $158.6 million to expand aftercare services for people who have attempted suicide, the creation of a national phone service to help connect people to the right mental health treatment, and work on a single diagnostic system.

“This reform that we’re undertaking here is big, it is big structural change,” he said.

“So that, for an Australian individual who’s concerned about mental health issues, the system is simpler, more effective, and has more services than it has today. It’s about bringing it all together.”

Victorian Acting Premier and Mental Health Minister James Merlino said the state and federal governments had been working closely together to tackle mental health.

“It is rare to see an issue like this have such a dedicated focus and commitment to address it at both levels of governments,” he told this masthead.

But while he welcomed the Commonwealth’s increased focus on mental health, Mr Merlino was concerned the investment would not deliver enough funds to fix the system.

“Both the Premier and I have had discussions with the Prime Minister about the need for a significant increase in funding to rebuild the mental health system,” he said.

The acting premier said Victoria was hopeful that as part of the current bilateral negotiations the Commonwealth would provide further funding.

“It would be extremely disappointing if all of these positive discussions just resulted in the states doing all the heavy lifting,” Mr Merlino said.

Mr Coleman said this budget was not the final word on mental health. “There will be more to do, there’ll be lots more discussions,” he said.