CEO
Mental Health Australia Limited
November 27, 2024

Obviously the announcement of the Government’s response to the National Mental Health Commission Review dominated the week.

We were very pleased to host a teleconference for our members with Mark Cormack from the Department of Health outlining the reforms just prior to the public announcement.

It was encouraging to be at the launch to hear the Prime Minster frame a discussion around “mental wealth” as a national asset more valuable than any asset that exists “under the ground”. Encouraging too to hear Minister Ley commit the Commonwealth Government to taking a leadership role on mental health. There are bound to be many challenges in the implementation of the measures, but at least we have now started the process.

You will have seen our reaction in the media, and I do not intend to repeat all that here, but suffice to say I am delighted we can now move out of “review mode” and into “implementation mode”. As you know too well, we have been under review for so long now that there have been very few new initiatives and developments, and great uncertainty about existing ones. Yesterday’s announcements did not answer all of these uncertainties directly, but it has cleared the way for a range of decisions to be made.

In this context I am now optimistic we can get on with the business of implementing change, solving problems, and building the mental health system that we all aspire to.

The Government’s full response to the review can be accessed via the Department of Health’s website and includes a fact sheet and summary of government actions.

We have also compiled a range of articles discussing the package below:

The email containing this information may be viewed here.