‘I feel that a lack of traction at the Australian government level means it is time for someone else to take this important mental health mantle.’
The chair of Mental Health Australia, Matthew Berriman, has resigned over what he described as the Albanese government’s “lack of traction” on mental health.
This comes three years after the now-former head of the peak body, representing more than 80 member organisations, began petitioning the federal government to improve the mental health system.
“I don’t think over the last 20 years mental health has been addressed in this country and the Labor government promised that was going to happen and it hasn’t,” Mr. Berriman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
He said that Australia’s current mental health system was inadequately funded, with funds not being adequately utilised.
He also criticised the tens of billions of dollars of funding the federal government has provided to defence and the NDIS program arguing that bigger funding should be given to the millions of Australians suffering from mental health conditions.
“While I depart the organisation comfortable with the efforts taken to advocate for meaningful change, I feel that a lack of traction at the Australian government level means it is time for someone else to take this important mental health mantle,” Mr. Berriman said.
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“The nation is amid a mental health crisis and Australians need urgent collaborative attention at the highest level.”
However, Mr. Berriman has praised both the federal health minister Mark Butler and shadow health minister Anne Ruston as people who really cared, and said he would have appreciated having a meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during his tenure as chief of the mental health body.
In September 2023, Mr. Berriman criticised the prime minister for not making mental health a national priority.
“While I depart the organisation comfortable with the efforts taken to advocate for meaningful change, I am now looking forward to channelling my efforts in a capacity that is closer to community,” Mr. Berriman said in a statement (pdf).
“I remain driven by a desire to ensure that one day equitable and easy access to good mental health support and services will be considered an unquestionable basic human right, and an integral part of how our society functions.”
Mental Health Reform ‘Will Not Happen Overnight’: Health Minister
Health Minister Mr. Butler has acknowledged Mr. Berriman’s advocacy for Australians living with mental health conditions, saying that the federal government is working closely with the sector and is committed to ensuring access to mental health services for all Australians.
“Mental health reform will not happen overnight,” he said.
However, shadow health minister Senator Anne Ruston has criticised the government, saying it was “absolutely disgraceful” that Mr. Berriman had to quit out of frustration.
“Mr. Berriman has provided a strong voice for all Australians impacted by mental health, bravely sharing his own lived experience and boldly calling for greater action from this Federal Government,” Senator Ruston said.
Mr. Butler has been criticised for cutting back Medicare-subsidised psychological sessions from 20 to 10. He said this cutback would enable more Australians to see psychologists and promised more wide-ranging reforms.
The Albanese government has yet to respond to the review of the mental health system that was submitted in October 2022.
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