The Driving Change Team have provided input into the Productivity Commission National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Review.

The Productivity Commission (PC) (the Commission) is an independent body that provides research and advice to the Australian Government on economic, social and environmental issues affecting the welfare of Australians. The Commission conduct their own inquiries, and they also conduct research at the request of the Australian Government.

It is important to get our voices heard by the Commission as they have a role in informing Australian government decision-making.

The Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement Review is a review of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement (the Agreement) to see if it worked as it was meant to. The Agreement sets out the shared intention of Commonwealth, state and territory governments to work together to improve the mental health and reduce the incidence of suicide of all Australians.

What we said

We agreed with the Commission’s finding of the current Agreement not being ‘fit for purpose’. We also agreed that the commitments made by the Agreement have failed to translate into meaningful or measurable reform.

We called for 3 things to be built into the next Agreement to ensure that the mental health needs of people with intellectual disability are fully addressed.

They were:

• People with intellectual disability must be explicitly recognised as a priority stakeholder group in the development of the new Agreement.
   
• That people with intellectual disability are included in the co-design of the next Agreement.
   
• That there is significant investment outlined in the next Agreement that targets:
  a. Co-designed mental health services
  b. Support for mainstream mental health services by specialists in intellectual disability mental health
  c. Early intervention programs
  d. Specialised crisis intervention models
  e. Service integration to prevent fragmentation.
  f. Training and,
  g. Data collection.

What happens next?

You can read our submission led by Professor Rebecca Koncz here.

The Commission is no longer accepting submissions into their Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Agreement Review.

They received 225 submissions. They are finalising their findings and will present a final report to the Australian Government in October. They will release it to the public shortly thereafter. You can find more information here.