Australia’s Mental Health Care System Is at a Breaking Point — and Labor Is Making It Worse
Despite growing need and out-of-pocket costs, Anthony Albanese's Labor government is halving the number of Medicare-subsidized psychology sessions Australians can access each year. It’s an austerity measure that will harm those who need support the most.
Cards for Medicare, Australia’s public health insurance scheme, are seen on July 10, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Michael Dodge / Getty Images)
The Australian mental health system is already stretched to a breaking point. Now, it’s about to get worse, thanks to the Labor government’s decision to cut the additional ten subsidized Medicare sessions that the previous government made available from August 2020.
To justify the move, minister for health and aged care Mark Butler cited an evaluation claiming that the ten additional sessions led to a 7 percent decline in new patients accessing the system. The implication is that if you offer more rebates, it excludes new patients. However, his argument is based on a deliberate misreading of the evaluation that ignores key outcomes, including the finding that psychology waitlists have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Butler’s rationale is cynical and denies the impact of the pandemic on both clients and mental health care providers. Clearly, there is a lack of capacity in the mental health care system. And clearly, existing patients required additional sessions. Instead of facing the realities that underpin these facts, Labor has chosen austerity — and attempted to justify it, as though cuts are somehow egalitarian.
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