The Government has been busy lately, broadcasting the message that it is helping more people than ever to address mental health problems. A glossy budget paper with bright and positive stock photo imagery has been accompanied by Facebook posts and articles on The Drum from the Federal Minister for Mental Health, Mark Butler. These pieces brace against growing criticism from the public about cuts to mental health treatment programs, with the Better Access to Mental Health Care program being one of the big casualties. The claim from Mark Butler is that the current Government investment in mental health is unprecedented, being the “largest ever mental health package”. But does that claim measure up against the facts on the table?

Former chief mental health advisor, John Mendoza, doesn’t think so. He pointed out to the ABC’s One Plus One program that the proportion of mental health spending is declining, from 8% of the health budget dropping down to 7% where it is currently. Mental health conditions actually represent 15% to 25% of the burden of disability for all health conditions, which means that we are in fact significantly under-spending. By comparison, most European countries and our nearest neighbour New Zealand, spend between 12% and 14% of their health budget on mental health. So it seems that Australia needs to do more. And unfortunately for the Government, Mendoza is not alone in criticising the fact that mental health treatment has been whittled away in a desperate, but ultimately futile effort, to bring the budget back into surplus (a point we made nearly a year ago about the costs and benefits of investment in mental health care).

Since the budget announcement in May, Professor Pat McGorry has also spoken out, giving his strong endorsement of the Better Access program. He told news.com.au that “Better Access needs to be wholeheartedly endorsed as ‘Stage One’ in the spectrum of mental healthcare, and the cuts of 2011 that were temporarily reversed later that year should be permanently taken off the table.” He expressed concern that that Better Access needs to be strengthened so that “hundreds of thousands of Australians do not continue to fall into the gap between primary care – and the tertiary and beleaguered public mental health system.” The Federal Government has invoked rhetoric about the need to fill in the cracks of our fragmented mental health system, yet apparently doesn’t realise how their cuts to psychological treatment create an ever widening chasm for distressed people to fall through.

Dr Bill Pring who spoke at the AMA conference in May 2012, also raised questions about the impact of funding being “diverted away from “coal face” primary care mental health programs such as Better Access”. He made the obvious point that cutting psychological treatment brings about a situation where psychiatrists naturally end up under pressure to support an increasing numbers of patients who have no other treatment options available to them. This comes directly to bear on the very purpose of the Better Access initiative outlined in the Budget Paper for 2006-2007, which is and always has been to support GPs identify and manage mental disorders, and to refer people on to psychologists (etc) when psychological treatment is preferable to psychiatric care (nevermind misleading spin, that Better Access only targets mild to moderate conditions). The statistics show that Better Access had been working remarkably well prior to the cuts in November 2011, with falling rates of dependency on antidepressants and anxiety medication as public access to psychological treatment increased.

It makes you wonder how people would respond if physical health was treated in the same half-hearted way that mental health is treated right now? We found this cartoon, which we think sums up the general sentiment of the public about the discrepancy they are now facing in the mental health system. Is this really how Australian’s feel about mental health disorders? Tells us what YOU think in the comments section below.

NOTE: Please SIGN OUR PETITION if you would like to stand in solidarity with thousands of other Australians, calling on the Better Access program to be restored and expanded.