Funding for mental health services will quadruple as the government prepares to transition service providers to the national disability insurance scheme (NDIS).
The federal government has set aside $1.8bn in the NDIS for mental health services. It currently spends $450m on community care programs, many of which will fall under the NDIS umbrella when the program is fully operational.
The chief executive of Mental Health Australia, Frank Quinlan, said he was “delighted” by the funding allocation, but wanted certainty for a number of programs whose funding is due to expire on 1 July, 12 months before the NDIS will be fully operational.
The assistant social services minister, Mitch Fifield, who also looks after the mental health portfolio, announced on Monday the continuation of two programs that were previously in doubt. The personal helpers and mentors program and the mental health respite carer support program will continue until July 2016.
“This one-year funding extension will help ensure a smooth transition to the NDIS for these services,” Fifield said.
“The Australian government is committed to supporting people who are severely impacted by mental illness, as well as those who care for them,” Fifield said. “The extension of these contracts will ensure people living with mental illness and those who care for them can still access these support services.”
The executive director of the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia, David Meldrum, said he was “pretty ecstatic” that the programs would be extended, but “shell-shocked that it took so long” to guarantee their funding.
“These programs are absolutely vital,” he said.
Quinlan said “the situation was quite critical” for the programs, and their funding certainly “sets minds at ease”.
He hoped the government, which is still working out the details of the NDIS, would not focus the program on emergency mental healthcare.
“The great challenge for the NDIS … is how they invest in early intervention and preventative measures,” Quinlan said. “[Currently] our spending is skewed to the acute end.”
Labor’s disability spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said the opposition would work with the government to ensure that the transition to the NDIS was “as seamless as possible”.
Labor has called for the health minister, Sussan Ley, to release the National Health Commission’s report into mental health services, which was issued to the government at the end of November.