Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard play their mental health cards

JULIA Gillard is working on a big-ticket mental health package for next month's budget.

JULIA Gillard is working on a big-ticket mental health package for next month's budget as part of her push to increase workforce participation.

But Tony Abbott will today move to trump Labor's expected funding promise, which could be one of the few vote-winners in an unpopular budget, with a $430 million plan to encourage more people with a mental illness into work and capitalise on growing disenchantment with the government's lack of progress in the area.

As government sources said last night that Labor had been working closely with mental health experts and would put the finishing touches to the package in coming days, the Opposition Leader was planning to build on his $1.5 billion mental health announcement from last year's election campaign.

In a speech to Sydney University's Brain and Mind Institute today, Mr Abbott will outline a $180m boost to employment services for people with serious mental health problems.

He will also promise to match Labor in having a mental health minister if the Coalition wins the next election, with funding for employment and accommodation services for people with mental illness coming under one department.

Mr Abbott will argue that most people with serious mental health problems are on the disability pension because they are unable to work more than 15 hours a week. "About a third of all disability pensioners can't work because of mental illness, much of which is treatable and may not be a bar to all kinds of work," he will say.

He will also promise $40m to establish a national mental health research centre, and $20m to establish a national mental health workforce training institute.

Arguing that mental illness is Australia's most prevalent health problem after heart disease and cancer, Mr Abbott will pledge a further $40m to create a mental health commission to provide expert advice to the mental health minister.

He will also promise to press the states to make a $150m commitment to better co-ordinate accommodation services for people with mental illness.

Mr Abbott's speech comes as expectations are building that Labor could commit between $1.8bn and $2bn, but delay most of the funding to 2015-17 as it seeks to balance the budget.

The government is coming under increasing pressure to honour its election campaign commitments on mental health, including from GetUp!, which took out a full-page advertisement in The Australian yesterday.

The advertisement included a petition signed by more than 100,000 of its members calling on Labor to fund mental health initiatives in the budget.

Wayne Swan said yesterday the Coalition would not be able to deliver on any spending promises because "it can't deliver a budget surplus" and insisted the government was "very serious" about mental health.

Mental health experts said yesterday that spending in the area could help the Prime Minister achieve her goal of shifting people back into the workforce.

Former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry said: "Twenty per cent or more of those on the disability support pension could be shifted off it if the right sort of employment programs were in place."