Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Every member of this House would have people coming to them, particularly after COVID, saying they cannot get in to see a psychologist. The psychologists in their areas have closed their books. The evaluation said that the additional 10 sessions the former government decided not to extend before 31 December had made that problem profoundly worse—that tens and tens of thousands of people had been cut out of the system altogether, making better access actually worse. The assistant minister for mental health and I held a round table with about 80 different groups and individuals last week, and I can say this: other than the colleges of the private psychologists, no-one at that seminar said we should reintroduce those 10 extra sessions. (Time expired)

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