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Home > Ministers > The Hon Nicola Roxon MP - Minister for Health and Ageing > Media Hub > Speech for the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Mental Health Foundation of Australia’s 2008 Golden Opportunity Bal,l Melbourne, 10 April 2008

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PDF printable version of Speech for the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Mental Health Foundation of Australia’s 2008 Golden Opportunity Ball, Melbourne, 10 April 2008 (PDF 23 KB)

14 April 2008

Thank you, Professor Graham Burrows (Chairman, Mental Health Foundation of Australia).

I would also like to acknowledge:

• The Hon Simon Crean, Minister for Trade
• The Hon Lisa Neville, Minister for Mental Health, Victoria
• The Senator Lyn Allison, Leader of the Australian Democrats
• The Hon Dr Brendan Nelson, Leader of the Opposition
• The Hon Professor John Phillips QC, formerly Chief Justice Supreme Court of Victoria, and Helen Phillips
• Mary Wooldridge, MLA Victoria, Shadow Minister for Mental Health,
• David Davis, MLC Victoria, Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, Legislative Council
• Colleen Hartland, MLC Victoria Greens
• Professor James Angus, Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
• Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC
• John and Lyn McGrath; and
• other distinguished guests.

Last October I spoke at the foundation’s national conference. At the time I was hoping to become a member of a new Rudd Labor Government in order to tackle a range of health issues, including mental health.

And here I am tonight, as Health Minister, having got the ball rolling on a number of key reforms. We’ve been working closely with state and territory governments in a number of areas: this is the best way achieve change – particularly in a sector like mental health which can be so fragmented.

Specifically, in mental health we are seeking to:

• undertake an evidence-based approach which reorients mental health policy towards prevention and early intervention;
• reassess, and where appropriate, change some funding and program restrictions that are limiting access or flexibility
• ensure mental health services are well integrated with other services – state projects or new programs such as GP Super Clinics; and
• develop an open, transparent system of evaluation and accountability of existing mental health services.

This takes time – but rest assured more work is being undertaken than might at this stage be apparent.

As a first step in improving accountability, tomorrow I will be releasing data on the take-up of Medicare items for mental health. The Howard Government repeatedly refused to release this information. It made it impossible to know whether the items were properly targeted, and delivering what was promised.

I can now shine some light on this issue.

Broadly, the picture is mixed: not perfect, nor quite as bad as some have feared.

Interestingly, the pattern of services being provided by registered psychologists is similar spread to that of GPs, with about two-thirds of services being provided in capital cities and a fifth of services in rural and remote Australia. But unfortunately, the new psychiatrist item has not been well used in rural areas, with three-quarters of services being provided in capital cities.

A quarter of the new psychologist and psychiatrist items are bulk billed in capital cities. The good news is this increases to a third to half of services in rural and remote areas.

The data also shows a large number of GPs providing the counselling services rather than referring on – more analysis is needed to see if this has delivered high quality care.

I suspect that, once released, state and territory colleagues, health professionals and academics will have views about what needs to be improved – and we would welcome this input.

What is already clear, though, is that there is more work to do to ensure that all Australians have access to appropriate mental health services. I am pleased to be able to highlight some early initiatives we are taking to address this issue.

Firstly, we are enhancing the Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS) to better support people who find it difficult to access mental health services, through initiatives like a trial of telephone-based support in rural and remote areas.

Secondly, we are expanding ATAPS by $20 million over five years.

Thirdly, we are working with states to implement a national post-natal depression plan, improving prevention and early detection.

Fourthly, we will establish a National Advisory Council on Mental Health to provide our government with independent expert advice to inform national mental health reform efforts. An announcement about this important body will be made in the coming weeks.

Finally, we are working to better integrate services across governments and sectors, through our work on homelessness and in developing a new National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy.

So, hopefully, this brief overview can provide you with a taste of what is to come. We are working to improve services right now, but also planning long-term changes to improve the mental health system for the future.

(end)