Mental health and wellbeing must be a top priority for all political parties heading into the 2022 Federal Election on 21 May 2022.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia was facing a mental health crisis: it is a shadow pandemic that, if not remediated, will outlast the health effects of COVID-19.
Patients are reporting barriers to accessing care including wait times, availability, and cost, and psychologists simply cannot keep up with the surging demand for their services.
The Federal Government that comes into power following the election can turn this around with urgent policy action and strong leadership.
What work have we done so far?
Everything that we do is about improving the lives of Australians through psychology. Part of that is working with state/territory and federal governments on how to make that happen.
In our Federal Election statement launched ahead of the start of the campaign period, we outlined what must be done to overcome the dire need for more psychological support across our communities.
Since the campaign started, we have used this to speak to government ministers and bureaucrats across the political spectrum.
We call on the Federal Government to demonstrate strong leadership in mental health reform by committing to ten urgent policy actions.
1. Invest in surge psychology workforce to ensure disaster readiness and response
2. Support the perinatal mental health of all Australian parents
3. Give young Australians access to psychologists at school
4. Support child mental health hubs
5. Introduce a youth mental health safety net
6. Ensure COVID-19 mental health recovery through bulk billing and rural incentives
7. Use telehealth and Find a Psychologist to overcome wait times and connect Australians to psychologists
8. Future-proof the psychology workforce
9. Strengthen the psychology workforce
10. Get new graduates ready to handle any mental health issue by providing expert supervision and professional development
Our federal election statement
What commitments have been made so far?
We have conducted a review of the three major political parties’ federal election commitments relating to these ten key policy actions for reform. We have grouped these into four themes.
The review incorporates an assessment of the political parties’ policies on their websites and announcements in the media.
Our assessment has been split into three ratings:
Committed (green) i.e. the party has specific policies or public statements that demonstrate their commitment to the policy issue.
Partly committed (orange) i.e. the party has related policies or public statements that partially address the policy issue/show some level of commitment.
Not committed/unclear (red) i.e. the party has no related policies or public statements that adequately address or make commitments on the policy issue, or it is unclear from their public statements if they are addressing this area.
The APS is an organisation with charitable status which has no political affiliation. This assessment is made on the information available at time of publication, 13 May 2022.
Coalition
Our key advocacy areas
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Commitments
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More psychologists for patients
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- $1 million over the next 12 months to develop a National Autism Strategy, which includes the supply of a suitable and appropriate workforce to deliver services for autistic people
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Lowering costs and reducing wait times
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Head to Health
- Alice Springs, NT: $3.4 million investment in adult mental health services over 4 years
- Robertson, QLD: adult mental health service in the area
- Balga and Mirrabooka, WA: adult mental health service in the area
- Braddon, TAS: $6.8 for Head to Health adult mental health services in Burnie and Devonport
- TAS: $55 million that includes resourcing for walk-in mental health services, a new Headspace centre in Hobart and funding for digital mental health service Head to Health
Perinatal
- $23 million in maternal health and bereavement support for women and families which have experienced the tragic loss of a child to stillbirth or miscarriage
Regional and rural
- $1 billion to boost rural health, including an additional $146 million in new funding to inject more doctors and allied health professionals into regional and rural communities
Veterans
- $70 million will support the creation of 14 Wellbeing Centres, based in locations with a significant veteran population
- $2.6 million will establish a pilot program to provide early intervention specialist child and adolescent mental health support for children of current and former ADF members
Suicide prevention
- QLD: $260 million will be invested in mental health and suicide prevention support and services in Queensland over the next five years
- WA: $61.5 million will be invested in mental health and suicide prevention support and services in Western Australia over the next five years
- TAS: $5.2 million to ensure that Tasmanians have continued and expanded access to vital mental health and suicide prevention services
- SA: $13.7 million to ensure that South Australians have continued and expanded access to vital suicide prevention services
- $30 million in funding for workforce training, research and national leadership initiatives aiming to reduce the tragic toll of suicide in Australia
- $114 million National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Programme (NSPLSP) grant opportunity
- $5.5 million investment in youth mental health organisation batyr
- $4.2 million in additional funding for mental health and suicide prevention research, training and support services for LGBTQI+ communities
PTSD
- $8.3 million for a national centre dedicated to PTSD research, education, and clinical services
Indigenous Australians
- Western Australia: $8.4 million to the Ngala Community Services to support a suite of programs that will assist young and vulnerable parents, provide mental health support to fathers and assist young people in trouble with the law
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Getting psychologists into schools and lowering costs for young adults
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- $40.6 million Parenting Education and Support grant addressing different parenting needs as children progress through key development milestones from ages 0-11 years
- Adelaide, SA: $12.6 million for a new child mental health centre
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Emergency mental health care during natural disasters
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- No commitments at 13 May 2022
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Labor
Our key advocacy areas
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Commitments
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More psychologists for patients
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- No commitments at 13 May 2022
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Lowering costs and reducing wait times
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- No commitments at 13 May 2022
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Getting psychologists into schools and lowering costs for young adults
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- A Headspace dedicated to early intervention mental health services in Box Hill, Victoria
- Deliver $440 million to schools for better ventilation, building upgrades, and mental health support.
- It is unclear how much money will specifically go towards mental health support, and to what extent that will impact psychologists’ ability to provide support.
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Emergency mental health care during natural disasters
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- No commitments at 13 May 2022
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The Greens
Our key advocacy areas
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Commitments
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More psychologists for patients
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- Invest $2.5 billion to implement a national rollout of the Individual Placement and Support program to help young people impacted by poor mental health find stable work
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Lowering costs and reducing wait times
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- Invest $4.8 billion to ensure mental healthcare is fully covered under Medicare by providing unlimited sessions with a psychologist or psychiatrist with no out of pocket fees
- Change the psychology rebate
- Invest $772 million over the forward estimates into expanding and strengthening telehealth services
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Getting psychologists into schools and lowering costs for young adults
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- Invest $2.5 billion to implement a national rollout of the Individual Placement and Support program to help young people impacted by poor mental health find stable work
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Emergency mental health care during natural disasters
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- No commitments at 13 May 2022
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What does this mean leading up to 21 May?
Clearly, more needs to be done by all parties to bring mental health to the forefront of their federal election agendas. We will continue to write to the parties and use the media to share our collective voice.