Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mental health is a huge issue in the electorate Gilmore. However, sadly, it is all too commonly a hidden issue. Local GPs tell me that a large proportion of their work is supporting and helping patients with mental health concerns. One local practice alone employs six credentialed mental health nurses, as the demand for mental health services is so high, and does about 80 telehealth consultations a week with patients who have complex and enduring mental health problems. So you can imagine the uproar from mental health patients, GPs and psychiatrists when the Morrison government quietly and quickly announced just before Christmas last year that it would axe the Medicare rebate for item 288, which gives psychiatrists the incentive to provide specialist mental health support in regional and remote areas.

This is one of the cruellest blows for people in areas like mine. A region that has gone through the worst drought, 80 per cent of Gilmore was hit by the Black Summer bushfires, leaving mental health scars we can only imagine, interspersed with seven disaster declared floods and then the pandemic. And the Morrison government elects to make it harder for locals to seek the mental health support they need.

I have had many representations on this issue, but I want to talk about a handwritten letter I received from constituent Julie. She says: 'Hello, my name is Julie. I am 51 years of age. I am writing to you in regard to the changes with Medicare and my mental health situation. I was diagnosed with bipolar and PTSD four years ago and have been seeing a psychiatrist regularly for three years and I was bulk billed. Today I called for my next appointment and I was told that, due to the government changes to Medicare, it would be at a cost of $635 to see a psychiatrist. I am on a disability support pension due to having a mental health problem, so I am unable to pay $635 per session. But, without seeing a psychiatrist, I cannot get my medicine approved. I am doing okay now, but, if I cannot get my meds approved, my mental health will decline quickly without medication, which I don't want to have happen. I need to see a psychiatrist ASAP to renew my script and have it approved, but at $635 I can't.'

Why does the government not care about Julie and the many other people in my electorate and around the country in regional areas who need to access a psychiatrist? I urge the federal government to ensure there are Medicare incentives in place for psychiatrists to provide services in regional areas.

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