Natasha Robinson

Natasha Robinson is The Australian’s health editor and writes across medicine, science, health policy, research, and lifestyle. Natasha has been a journalist for more than 20 years in newspapers and broadcasting, has been recognised as the National Press Club’s health journalist of the year and is a Walkley awards finalist and a Kennedy Awards winner. She is a former Northern Territory correspondent for The Australian with a special interest in Indigenous health. Natasha is also a graduate of the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board’s Diploma of Law and has been accepted as a doctoral candidate at QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research, researching involuntary mental health treatment and patient autonomy.

Natasha Robinson

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NSWHealth

Psychiatrists threaten mass walkout

Staff specialist psychatrists are threatening a mass walkout after the NSW government failed to offer them a single extra dollar in pay, despite a critically depleted workforce.

Natasha Robinson

EXCLUSIVEHealth

27 September 2024; Photo comp of a photo of a window of the dilapidated former Rozelle Hospital in Sydney, previously called Callan Park, was one of the largest mental asylums in the nation before it was shut and an image of a man's forlorn face looking outside the window; Sources: Max Mason-Huber and iStock. Photo comp by Emilia Tortorella. Ratio 4:3.

Mental health system is ‘fundamentally broken’

One of the nation’s most prominent psychiatrists says those with the most severe conditions are critically neglected and marginalised, as the AMA calls for systemic reform.

Natasha Robinson

ANALYSISHealth

A security guard sits in a psychiatric inpatient ward outside the door of a mother who has just given birth. Picture: Supplied

Our neglect is truly our national shame

The neglect of all of those living with severe mental illness boils down to a single driving factor. We think it is indifference.

Natasha Robinson and Steve Robson

INQUIRERHealth

The clearing out of asylums was meant to provide hope. Instead it spawned an underclass

The severely mentally ill were promised a better future after asylums were mothballed. The promises were hollow.

Natasha Robinson

EXCLUSIVEHealth

13/12/24: Matt Berriman, former chair of Mental Health Australia, who suffers bipolar disorder and is campaigning for a better mental health system. John Feder/The Australian.

Deadly neglect of mentally ill a national shame

Matt Berriman, who suffers from bipolar disorder, says Australia’s mental health system almost cost him his life when he was admitted four years ago. Now he wants to see change.

Natasha Robinson

EXCLUSIVEHealth

17-09-2024 - Sunset reflected in the windows of a dilapidated building at SydneyÃs old Rozelle Hospital, a former mental asylum which has been shut down, with only a few buildings repurposed. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers / The AustralianÃ

Shocking plight of mentally ill ‘a stain on nation’

Health Minister Mark Butler describes the atrocious health outcomes, social exclusion and widespread homelessness as ‘a shocking reflection on our community’. The situation is revealed in a report by The Australian and Australian National University.

Natasha Robinson

EXCLUSIVEHealth

The scandalous neglect of our mentally ill living in remote areas

Indigenous people in remote communities suffer some of the most complex mental health problems yet have an almost complete lack of access to psychiatric and psychology services.

Natasha Robinson

cast adriftMental Health

The Haven Foundation, formed in 2006, has 10 long-term housing residences for people with psychosocial disability in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Safe Haven: the foundation giving hope to Aussies with psychosocial disabilities

The Haven model has proved not only life-changing for residents with complex mental health conditions, it also results in efficiencies for the NDIS and the health system as a whole.

Natasha Robinson

ExclusiveHealth

Brisbane City streetscapes and business signage - BUPA Pictures David Clark Photography

Bupa offers ‘admin payments’ to doctors amid Healthscope fallout

In a move described as ‘unprecedented’, Bupa is offering doctors hundreds of dollars in payments in a major escalation of its dispute with private hospital provider Healthscope

Penny Timms and Natasha Robinson

exclusiveHealth

4/9/24: Homeless man, Craig on the streets of Sydney who we spoke to during an afternoon with St Vincent's homelessness outreach service providing services to those living with mental illness living on the streets.. John Feder/The Australian

Home truths: jails overflow as mentally ill live on the streets

Since the closure of mental asylums, the ranks of prisoners and the homeless have swelled with the severely mentally ill.

Natasha Robinson

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/natasha-robinson/page/2