1,000 signatures reached
To: Premier Daniel Andrews
Fund the Gap - Mental Health Matters!
Community mental health services in Victoria are in crisis. $75 million is being ripped out of services by the state government, leaving Victorians with severe mental health needs without support.
We are calling on the Andrews government to ensure that there is no funding gap for community mental health services. We are calling for the immediate re-funding of the state based Mental Health Community Support Services as an interim measure.
We are also calling on the Andrew’s government to commit to working with community mental health workers, with people with lived experience of mental health challenges, with mental health service providers and other experts on reforming Victoria’s mental health support system and making it Australia’s best.
Why is this important?
The Victorian government is gutting the community mental health sector. It argues that it can pull this funding out of the sector because the NDIS is a better system for people with mental health needs. But here is what is really happening:
• 91% of Victorian with severe mental health needs are not even eligible for the NDIS – leaving a massive 135,000 people without any support services.
• Mental health admissions at ED’s have jumped over 19% in the past 4 years, putting an incredible strain on an already over-burdened system.
• Victoria spends less per capita on mental health support than any other state or territory – $197 per capita to the rest of Australia’s average of $227.
Along with these shocking facts, more than a thousand well-trained and dedicated Community Mental Health workers are being forced out of their jobs. This is devastating to them, their families and the people they support.
Community Mental Health workers work in services that support Victorians with a wide range of mental health challenges. Their support helps people to live better lives and contribute to their communities. Community Mental Health is the frontline of mental health services that takes pressure off the hospitals and other acute services, the police and the courts.
We’ve been warning of a crisis in mental health support – that crisis is now here. Vulnerable people with complex needs are falling through an ever widening gap. The Andrews government must recognise this looming disaster and act quickly to save Victoria’s recovery-focused community-based mental health support services.