CEO Update: Mental health matters – 2025 Federal Election campaign wrap-up
1 May 2025
CEO Message
Mental health matters: 2025 Federal Election campaign wrap-up
With just a couple of days to go until the Federal Election, it’s timely to look back and review what various parties have pledged in terms of mental health policy and investment for the next term of government.
Our polling showed that mental health would be a major priority for voters this federal election, with 63% of voters surveyed more likely to back parties committed to increasing mental health funding to improve access to services.
Parties and candidates of all stripes have heard the community’s message that mental health matters, with a welcome focus throughout the campaign on mental health services and investments, including those outlined in our Federal Election platform.
We called for parties and candidates to prioritise mental health services for the Australian community, guided by our Vision Statement for a mentally healthy Australia, our Sector Sustainability Statement to fix mental health funding and contracting arrangements, and plan for pathways to free mental health supports for children and young people in our Case for Change.
The response has seen a number of significant commitments from all sides of politics, which have continued well into the campaign’s final days. These include:
Australian Labor Party
- $8.5 billion for an additional 18 million bulk billed GP visits by 2030, including special appointments for the creation of Mental Health Plans under the Better Access scheme
- $1 billion for free mental health supports, including new Medicare Mental Health Centres and headspace centres, the creation of 20 Youth Specialist Care Centres and an uplift to the mental health workforce
- $32 million for men’s mental health including $11.3 million for Movember to provide men’s health care training to primary health care workers, plus a further $20.7 million for grassroots initiatives supporting men’s mental health and wellbeing in community settings, through the Black Dog Institute
- $20 million for a women's trauma recovery centre addressing the long-term mental health impacts of domestic, family and sexual violence
- $16.7 million for parents for another eight Perinatal Mental Health Centres around the country
- $6.4 million for the expansion of preventive mental health education programs through the Goanna Academy.
Liberal-National Coalition
- $8.5 billion to match Labor’s commitment to Medicare bulk billing in addition to an already-announced $500 million commitment to return Better Access subsidies to 20 session per year
- $400 million for youth mental health including a National Institute for Youth Mental Health
- $32 million to help break the stigma around men’s mental health, including support to train over 60,000 GPs and nurses through Movember
- $20 million for a residential Domestic Violence Trauma Recovery Centre for women and children on the NSW Central Coast.
- $10 million to establish and expand Veterans' and Families' Hubs in regional NSW.
Greens
- Provision of free and universal mental healthcare and free all-ages ADHD and Autism diagnosis through Medicare.
- Improving and expanding mental health services, including $400 million for community mental health organisations and a $180 million investment in legislating a National Suicide Prevention Act.
I’ve previously welcomed these commitments, which will all go some way to improving the accessibility and affordability of services and supports, but gaps still remain, including:
- providing mental health pathways to free mental health support for children beyond the GP’s office, called for in our Federal Election platform (Smiling Mind’s Our Kids Count campaign is another call for politicians to prioritise child mental health this election – you can sign and share the open letter);
- strong, inter-jurisdictional commitment to fully funding unmet psychosocial need, as identified in the Unmet Needs Analysis released last August (as per our Statement);
- addressing ongoing administrative challenges in funding, tenders and contracts to provide greater certainty to the community and service providers;
- a strategic and well-funded focus on prevention, to reverse the growing prevalence of mental ill-health, amongst many other ongoing priorities.
We are already looking beyond the election to the implementation of campaign commitments by the incoming government and making the case for the priorities that remain unaddressed, through our post-election Incoming Government Brief.
Thank you to Mental Health Australia members, for your support and engagement throughout the campaign.
We look forward to knowing the outcome of this weekend’s election and leveraging the momentum we have achieved so far in this campaign, as we continue our work to achieve the transformation in mental health the Australian community deserves.
Carolyn Nikoloski
CEO, Mental Health Australia
The end of an era: Acknowledging the closure of the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum and National Register of Mental Health Consumers and Carers
Due to a change in funding, the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum (NMHCCF) is, after 23 years, closing as of 1st July 2025. The National Register of Mental Health Consumers and Carers is also closing at this time. This marks the end of an era for both the NMHCCF and National Register. As the NMHCCF Co-Chairs have reflected, lived experience leadership advocacy will continue to thrive at a national level through the Lived Experience Peak Bodies: The National Mental Health Consumer Alliance and Mental Health Carers Australia.
Learn more in the Forum's newsletter at the button below.
Save the date! Mental Health Australia Members Policy Forum
Mental Health Australia members are invited to mark their calendars for the next Members Policy Forum on Wednesday 25th June 2025 in Canberra.
The forum is an opportunity to reflect on the outcomes and implications of the Federal Election, and shape future sector priorities together.
Further details, including speakers, topics, and registration information, will be shared soon. See highlights from our last forum, held in November 2024, here.
Mental Health News
2025 Federal Election
Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care:
Media release: Strengthening Medicare – Labor is backing men's health
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government is strengthening Medicare, announcing an additional $32 million to support men's health and break the stigma around seeking support. Movember statistics show as many as two in every three men are foregoing health support due to gender sterotypes – and around half believe avoiding health check-ups is normal.
Ministers interview transcript:
Sector response:
- Black Dog Institute welcomes $2 million commitment to advance research into men's mental health: Black Dog Institute has welcomed the Federal Labor Government’s election commitment to invest $2 million into research focused on men’s mental health, as part of a broader $32 million commitment to support men’s health initiatives.
Media release: Labor to invest $20 million in women's and children's trauma recovery centre for Central Coast
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will provide $20 million to establish The Coast Women’s and Children’s Trauma Recovery Centre in East Gosford. The community-led initiative will offer a wrap around, trauma-sensitive approach to support recovery from domestic, family and sexual violence trauma – with a focus on working with children to help break the cycle of violence.
Article: Supporting expanded mental health services through the Goanna Academy
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Emma McBride say a re-elected Albanese Labor Government will provide $6.4 million over three years to the Goanna Academy to support an expansion of its important preventive mental health education programs for at-risk Australians and pilot a new mental health training program.
Media release: Support for Embrace Kids Australia to improve body image and prevent eating disorders
A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will invest $3.6 million over two years to support the Embrace Kids Australia program, to help kids tackle body image issues to live happier, healthier lives now and in the future. Body image is a serious issue for Australians, especially for our kids, and the problem is getting worse.
Media release: Victoria's first eating disorder treatment centre now open
The Albanese and Allan Labor Governments are making sure Victorians with eating disorders can get the care they need, with Victoria's first public residential eating disorder treatment centre in Armadale now complete. Victorian Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt and Federal Assistant Minister for Health Ged Kearney today opened the new centre, Ngamai Wilam, backed by a $16.9 million investment from Victoria and $13 million from the Commonwealth.
Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care:
Media release: Anthony Albanese's shameful broken promise on suicide prevention
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Anne Ruston, says Suicide Prevention Australia has released a damning report that shows Anthony Albanese has failed in his promise to make suicide prevention a "personal priority". The findings demonstrate why it is so inexplicable that Anthony Albanese has cut the National Suicide Prevention Research Fund.
Joint media release: Coalition to fund residential trauma centre for victim-survivors of domestic violence
An elected Dutton Coalition Government will commit $20 million for the first residential Domestic Violence Trauma Recovery Centre for women and children on the NSW Central Coast. Mr Dutton said as a former police officer who attended numerous domestic violence call-outs, he knows the trauma and lifelong impacts that can occur as a result of these horrific crimes.
Leader of the Nationals:
Media release: Coalition commits to $10 million to support veterans and their families in NSW's Central West
Veterans and their families in the Central West will receive a much-needed boost in support under a Dutton-Littleproud Government, with the Coalition committing $5 million to establish a new Veterans' and Families' Hub in Bathurst and $5 million to expand the Veterans' Wellbeing Centre in Dubbo. The hubs deliver integrated support to veterans and families, by improving access to local services such as wellbeing, advocacy, employment and housing advice, social connection and physical and mental health.
Media release: Calls for national social health plan to address mental health crisis
The Foundation for Social Health, in partnership with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (NSW Branch), convened a first-of-its-kind national conversation in Sydney bringing together medical leaders and members of Australia's hidden workforce – the informal frontline of mental health: hairdressers, hospitality staff, early educators, gym trainers, baristas and others who hear disclosures of distress daily – to discuss how Australia's mental health system can evolve from a crisis-based model, to one that begins with connection, community, and care.
Media release: Delaying climate action will cost lives, hip-pockets and the public purse – doctors
Medical colleges representing more than 112,000 doctors and medical experts said Australians will find it even harder to get the medical care they need without strong climate
action from the next government, as heatwaves drive up emergency presentations, ambulance call outs and hospitalisations and bushfires, cyclones, floods and droughts increase demand for both mental and physical health services.
Other News
Media release: Care economy boost with new Cooperative Research Centre
Australia's $327 billion care economy is set to be transformed by the nation's first Care Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) in the sector and the largest in the world, with $35m in federal funding through a CRC grant. Sixty organisations will collaborate on care technology, data solutions and workforce innovation to address challenges such as increased demand and skills shortages.
Mental Health Opportunities and Resources
Australian Government Request for Expression of Interest: National Early Intervention Service
The National Early Intervention Service (NEIS) will provide free, evidence-based mental health support to people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, mild mental ill-health or transient distress.
Expressions of interest close at 4:00pm (AEST) Tuesday 6th May 2025.
Sector submissions invited: Models of Care Consortium
Orygen has been engaged by the Department of Health and Aged Care to lead a diverse consortium of organisations from the youth mental health sector to deliver sector advice to the Australian Government on the system of mental health services for young people aged 12 to 25 years.
The consortium has made available documents on the work that has been done so far here, including a Summary of Consortium Early Advice (available here).
Submissions are now invited from the sector, including views on this early advice, and can be made using the form below, by Friday 16th May 2025.
Call for sector support: Smiling Mind's Our Kids Count grassroots campaign
Shining a light on the mental health and wellbeing needs of Australian children and their families, Our Kids Count aims to drive awareness about the need for greater focus and investment in children's mental health and wellbeing during the election period.
Add your name to the Open Letter and access shareable campaign resources at the link below.
2025 Rural Mental Health Conference: Call for presenters and discount registration offer!
This year’s Rural Mental Health Conference is taking place in Hobart 5th-7th November 2025, centred on the theme: Rural Mental Health for the Future: Innovations, Collaboration, and Inclusive Approaches.
Presentation applications are invited by 2nd May 2025.
Registrations are also open. CEO Update readers are eligible for a 20% discount by using the code MHA20.
Call for feedback: Australia Suicide Prevention Planning Model (AuSPPM)
The Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research is calling for suicide prevention stakeholders, including persons with a lived experience, to provide feedback on the draft Australia Suicide Prevention Planning Model (AuSPPM) via an online survey. The AuSPPM is designed to bring together evidence on service needs to inform population planning for suicide prevention programs and services.
The survey closes Friday 30th May 2025.
Oral Health and Mental Health: Lived Experience Perspectives report launch and webinar
Lived Experience Australia commenced this research project to better understand oral health and mental health, the interconnections and the experiences of consumers, families, carers and kin. Oral health is often overlooked as an important health issue, and support for oral health care is not funded through Medicare in the same way as many other physical health conditions, despite its importance to good mental and physical health.
You are invited to a 30-minute webinar on Monday 5th May 2025 at 12.30pm AEST to discuss the findings and hear from the lived experience working group that co-designed the research.
View the webpage for the research and findings here and register for the webinar at the button below.
One Door Mental Health Symposium, Thursday 15th May 2025, Sydney
The One Door Symposium is a forum for leading advocates, researchers, and practitioners to present research and workshop insights to achieve meaningful change in the mental health sector. This year’s symposium explores the theme ‘From Vision to Action - Driving Meaningful Change in Mental Health’.
ReachOut Australia launches 2023-24 Social Impact Report
ReachOut Australia has launched its 2023-24 Social Impact Report, showcasing ReachOut’s services, the positive impacts the organisation is having on youth mental health in Australia and its priorities for the future.
Nominations invited for the Barbara Hocking Memorial Awards
The Barbara Hocking Memorial Awards honour those in the community who help create a world where we’re all connected and are protected from suicide. Named after Barbara Hocking OAM, a trailblazer in mental health advocacy and former Executive Director of SANE Australia, the biennial awards recognise those who embody the R U OK? mission of fostering meaningful connections any day of the year
Nominations close 3rd June 2025.
2025 Woodcock Lecture hosted by Wellways: Dignity by Design – Humanity in the Mental Health System, 29th May 2025
The 23rd Annual Woodcock Lecture, hosted by Wellways, explores human rights in the mental health system. Dignity by Design: Humanity in the Mental Health System is a crucial exploration into how human rights-based approaches can transform our mental health support systems.
Relationships Australia Victoria training opportunities
Relationships Australia Victoria’s Centre for Learning and Innovation is offering the following workshops and webinars in May and June:
- Raising Children with Disability - Supporting Fathers Webinar, 7th May
- Working with Dads Workshop, 14th May
- Life Transitions and Mental Health Webinar, 22nd May
- Managing Challenging Behaviours Workshop, 2nd June
Job vacancies: New opportunities to join the Everymind team
Everymind is currently looking for applicants to fill research and project positions. Applications close 4th May 2025.
2025 Australian Counselling Association National Conference, Adelaide, 11th-13th June 2025
Join the Australian Counselling Association for their 2025 ACA National Conference, themed "Changing Landscapes", held over three days in Adelaide this June. This 21st annual conference offers a unique opportunity to explore the dynamic shifts shaping the counselling profession and the broader mental health sector.
Registrations close 1 June 2025.
Featured Members
NT Mental Health Coalition
Northern Territory Mental Health Coalition is the peak body for community mental health and wellbeing. Our vision is for all Territorians to have the opportunity for the best possible mental health and wellbeing. Our purpose as the peak body is to bring a strong voice for mental health and wellbeing for the Northern Territory.
Carers ACT
Carers ACT is the peak agency for Mental Health Carers in the ACT. We work in collaboration with mental health carers to ensure their voices are heard in the policies and programs that affect people with mental health conditions. We also work to raise awareness of the health and well-being needs of mental health carers and advocate for services and system changes that support mental health carers to improve their wellbeing. Our Mental Health Carers Voice program adopts deliberate democracy practices to ensure the voices of carers are considered, evidence based and representative of all.
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