The focus for mental health in this budget is directed towards measures and initiatives that support young people and their mental health needs and attempting to increase access to early intervention initiatives across the country. The Mental Health Council of Tasmania is pleased to see that the intention of this budget is to allow the Primary Health Networks to fund some services that aim to support people to reduce the likelihood of an episode of mental ill-health developing into a more complex illness.
The balance of funding is slowly tipping the scales toward prevention and early intervention when in the past this was only a very small proportion of the overall mental health budget. Our concern is that putting so much of the funding to one or two national service providers will potentially limit the capacity and diversity within those care models. This should not be a one-size-fits-all approach and will need to consider the Tasmanian context in order to be successful.
There is a significant amount of work to still be done in this area to look at more integrated and diverse models of care in keeping with the reforms identified within the Fifth National Mental Health Plan and the regional planning that is happening as we speak to assess service delivery across the nation.
Choose Your Area of Interest
Young People: 2019/20 Federal Budget
We are calling for a national plan to address the systemic issues that drive youth homelessness and greater investment in affordable housing and social housing.
Volunteering: 2019/20 Federal Budget
As we move into the election period, we hope there will considered thought on the massive contributions to GDP volunteering provides and the need to strategically invest in this workforce to ensure government programs are safely and appropriately supported.
Families & Children: 2019/20 Federal Budget
It continues to be disappointing that the government refuses to listen to the chorus of voices calling for an increase to Newstart allowance. This refusal condemns countless children to abject poverty.
Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drugs: 2019/20 Federal Budget
There was nothing new for Tasmania from this Budget for the alcohol and drug sector.
Aged Care: 2019/20 Federal Budget
New aged care initiatives announced last night included funding certainty for the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) and $2.6 million to support the implementation of the Aged Care Workforce Strategy.
Housing: 2019/20 Federal Budget
“Affordable housing and social housing, both public and community housing, ain’t fixed.”
2019/20 Federal Budget Wrap-up
Summaries on the major areas of the Budget with links to more information and commentary on related peak body websites.
Older Australians: 2019/20 Federal Budget
There are 183,000 people older than 50 on Newstart who have been on Newstart for longer than 12 months.