Commonwealth Funding and Administration of Mental Health Services
Information about the Inquiry
On 22 June 2011 the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Community Affairs Committees for inquiry and report.
The Government's funding and administration of mental health services in Australia,
with particular reference to:
(a) the Government's 2011-12 Budget changes relating to mental health;
(b) changes to the Better Access Initiative, including:
(i) the rationalisation of general practitioner (GP) mental health services,
(ii) the rationalisation of allied health treatment sessions,
(iii) the impact of changes to the Medicare rebates and the two-tiered rebate structure
for clinical assessment and preparation of a care plan by GPs, and
(iv) the impact of changes to the number of allied mental health treatment services for
patients with mild or moderate mental illness under the Medicare Benefits Schedule;
(c) the impact and adequacy of services provided to people with mental illness through the Access to Allied Psychological Services program;
(d) services available for people with severe mental illness and the coordination of those services;
(e) mental health workforce issues, including:
(i) the two-tiered Medicare rebate system for psychologists,
(ii) workforce qualifications and training of psychologists, and
(iii) workforce shortages;
(f) the adequacy of mental health funding and services for disadvantaged groups, including:
(i) culturally and linguistically diverse communities,
(ii) Indigenous communities, and
(iii) people with disabilities;
(g) the delivery of a national mental health commission; and
(h) the impact of online services for people with a mental illness, with particular regard to those living in rural and remote locations and other hard to reach groups; and
(j) any other related matter.
Submissions should be received by 05 August 2011. The reporting date is 16 August 2011. On 14 September 2011,the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 20 October 2011.
The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.
Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3515 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5829 or by email to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.
Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
For further information, contact: Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia