On a federal level it’s interesting to note that neither the Labor or Liberal parties have made a strong spending commitment to mental health in their electoral platforms.
It seems as if mental health has been well eclipsed behind other health issues in the bid for appropriate funding.
Looking around the ACT I see big spending on additional layers of bureaucracy – the split in ACT Health generating the need for TWO Director General’s for Canberra Health Services and the ACT Health Directorate. We also have a Coordinator-General for the Office for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
I don’t see a penny being devoted to actually providing crisis services or developing a network of peer workers to ease the focus on acute services and provide a real community alternative.
I put it to you that it is services on the ground we need not a bloated bureaucracy with riding instructions of promoting more spin on “how good things are” when we know that things are worse than they ever have been.
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