By Australian Psychological Society
Last week, the Federal Government announced two changes to GP referrals for mental health treatment plans (MHTPs) under Better Access, commencing from 1 November 2025.
Specifically, documents from Services Australia obtained by the APS revealed that:
“To support continuity of care, referrals to Better Access will be required to be made by a GP at:
- a person’s MyMedicare-registered practice
- their usual GP if they aren’t registered for MyMedicare”
Following APS advocacy and pressure this week we are pleased to share news that the Federal Government has altered the policy change. Current or would-be clients will no longer need to be registered with MyMedicare to be eligible for a Better Access referral.
APS took immediate action and spoke with media, the Federal Government and the Department of Health to strongly urge these proposed changes be cancelled. We argued that this proposal introduces new and significant barriers to care for clients by making it harder for people to get a mental health treatment plan from a GP.
However, we are still concerned about the proposed change that requires a person to get a referral from their ‘usual GP’. The idea that all people do, or even can have a “usual GP” is simply not true, particularly for more vulnerable groups in our community, such as young people, itinerant people, shift workers and those living in rural and remote areas.
We know that these are people who already typically experience higher rates of mental ill-health, and this measure means they will face yet another barrier to accessing care. We also know not all people want to see their usual GP for a mental health treatment plan, for a variety of reasons.
We will continue to pressure the Federal Government to cancel this proposed policy in its entirety and scrap the requirement for clients to get referrals from their ‘usual GP’.
We thank members for coming forward willing to share their stories with us to strengthen our advocacy about how these changes will impact them.