Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

In the most recent budget, the government made a $175 million investment in the important reforms needed in mental health. These will, in part, deliver more youth-friendly mental health services, more mental health nurses and more support for people with mental illness, including funding for 30 new headspace youth-friendly services, as the national advisory council has in fact recommended. Already, funding for mental health specific programs will double over the next four years, to $1.1 billion between 2010-11 and 2013-14 from $516.5 million allocated between 2004-05 and 2007-08. This is on top of the funding for mental health through the Medicare Benefits Schedule, including psychology services subsidised through Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Many in the mental health sector would prefer that patients with mental health problems be treated in community settings where that is appropriate. The government’s $1.6 billion investment in subacute care beds will help provide more step-up and step—

See this speech in context