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Federal Government should heed NSW mental health report findings

6 June 2024 

The peak body for all psychologists has welcomed the findings of the NSW parliamentary inquiry into mental health and called for similar action at a federal level.

The Australian Association of Psychologists (AAPi) is pleased that most of its key asks have been included in the inquiry recommendations. 

AAPi Executive Director Tegan Carrison said she was encouraged by the report’s calls for urgent and significant reforms to the mental health care system at both a state and federal level to ensure that mental health care is accessible, equitable, and effectively delivered.      

“Now is a key time for action by both levels of government to address the country’s mental health crisis with a unified and realistic approach,” she said. 

“The harsh reality is that mental health has a disease burden of around 13% yet only receives approximately 6-8% of funding.”  

AAPi is particularly supportive of the following findings: 

  • The NSW Government to make representations to the Australian Government to address the gaps in funding and workforce for primary care and mental health services, including improved equitability of the Better Access scheme and incentive schemes equivalent to those for procedural skills to better enable primary care services to support mental health
  • The NSW Government immediately increased pay for NSW public mental health clinicians, including allied health professionals, to at a minimum on par with other states and territories
  • Changes to pay grades for staff working in community mental health services should also take into account the level of expertise, further training, independent practice and risk associated with a role. 

“We will continue to work with the NSW Government and all stakeholders to ensure the recommendation actions in the report are implemented,” Ms Carrison said. 

Read AAPi’s full response to the NSW report here. 

ENDS

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