The APS Pre-Budget Submission 2026-27 presents a set of costed and practical initiatives aimed at strengthening the psychology workforce, improving access to care, supporting our youth, and improving wellbeing for Australians now and into the future.
This submission complements key Government priorities, including The Thriving Kids initiative, developing sustainable models of care for youth mental health, the National Mental Health Workforce Strategy 2022-2032, and the forthcoming update to the national Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement. Psychologists are essential to achieving these reforms as trusted experts in human behaviour, mental health, and wellbeing, and as providers of evidence-based early intervention and support for young people and their families. Independent Cost Benefit Analyses conducted by ACIL Allen show that investment in psychologists through the Better Access program and
other initiatives presented here represents strong economic value.
This Pre-Budget Submission provides reform solutions to future proof the psychology workforce, support our workforces in disaster and collective-trauma contexts, improve equity of mental health care, and enhance the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Our initiatives are organised into three overarching objectives: (1) Prepare for the future by strengthening and future-proofing the psychology workforce to meet Australia’s growing mental health and wellbeing needs, (2) Ensure access and equity to make psychological care more accessible, affordable, and responsive to community need, and (3) Support our youth by ensuring that young Australians receive timely, evidence-based care that promotes learning, development, and long-term wellbeing.
Together, these objectives reinforce a single national priority: strengthening the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians through an accessible, capable, and forward-looking psychology workforce. We call for Government support to fund the following 10 initiatives designed to maximise the benefits psychologists deliver to all Australians:
1. Develop a National Psychology Workforce Strategy
2. Extend Commonwealth Prac Payments to postgraduate psychology students
3. Collaborative benchmarking of AI and Digital Mental Health Services
4. Sustain and scale the APS Disaster Response Network (DRN)
5. Increase and index Medicare rebates for psychology services
6. Enable psychologists to determine treatment length
7. Streamline GP mental health appointments
8. Improve youth access to psychology services
9. Extend the flexibility of family and carer participation sessions under Better Access, and
10. Restructure MBS items related to the Assessment of Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Representing one of the most trusted professions delivering mental health services, promoting wellbeing, and advancing evidence-based research and practice, the APS looks forward to working collaboratively with the Government to deliver these cost-effective initiatives.
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