Productivity Commission Review of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement - Interim Report

This submission was in response to the Interim Report released by the Productivity Commission as part of their Review of the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement.

The Mental Health and Suicide Prevention agreement is a critical foundation for the delivery of accessible mental health and psychosocial supports by all Australian governments. AHPA welcomes the findings of the Commission in relation to the lack of progress on key areas of need and the opportunity to improve accountability and outcomes under a future agreement. We support the draft recommendations made by the Commission, particularly in relation to the need for governments to act now to address the high volume of unmet psychosocial support need. However, we also argue strongly that much greater recognition of the role of allied health professionals in delivering mental health and psychosocial supports is needed as is a commitment to recognising the workforce challenges and commissioning barriers that they may experience. Developing more formal connections with the allied health sector and increasing opportunities for the sector to support and provide input to service design and delivery will be critical.