Lived Experience Australia welcomes the announcements made in the 2025 budget.
We acknowledge the significant fiscal challenges and pressures, and the uncertain times with so much to consider in the Australian community and globally. With the election now announced for May 3rd, and the many commentaries circulating about these budget announcements, we aim to identify where we see the positives. Yes, there is more that could be done to invest in the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and groups who need support the most. It’s easy to complain; its harder to make budget and reform decisions that everyone can benefit from.
Many of the announced items in this budget build on existing funding and reform initiatives from the previous 2024 budget. We acknowledge the significant structural investment already made towards improving access to mental health support such as investments in Digital mental health and the National Early Intervention Service, NDIS reform, and Medicare Mental Health Centres.
We also note the broad range of funding towards areas that impact mental health, directly and/or indirectly at the grassroots level of the community, and that aim to benefit all people equitably in the Australian community. Increased bulk-billing, and PBS Medicines being reduced to no more than $25 per script are examples of these.
Any efforts to improve and address upstream social determinants of mental ill-health (through improving the basic conditions in which individuals and families live) is valued. These include broad community-based measures to tackle cost of living, housing, and domestic and family violence. There is so much focus on the crisis end of mental health care and initiatives which focus on mental health diagnosis alone and fail to address holistic social and physical health care needs, and expect people to navigate the complicated set of service doors to seek help when they have the least resources and strength to do so; it’s easy to lose site of prevention and early intervention.
We particularly welcome the focus on the primary care space where so many people with mental health challenges and distress first go to seek support, information and answers, and have these needs recognised and supported. At LEA, we know that there are so many people for whom primary care is the one consistent and sometimes the only mental health support they can access, and the place where their holistic health needs are viewed together.
To see a link to the full Stakeholder and General Public information pack, and a media release from the Hon Mark Butler, MP, see the links below:
Take care,
Professor Sharon Lawn
Executive Director
Lived Experience Australia
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