Australian 2016 Federal Election: Mental Health

UPDATE: SANE Australia has just released a very thorough overview of the policies of both parties here.

I happened to catch Triple J's Hack special Election show last night featuring the Mental Health promises of the major parties. 

In the lead up to the 2016 Australian Federal Election vote, there are many promises being made. However, mental health is an incredibly powerful and important issue that the major parties are only just starting to realise, evidenced by both throwing support and money into national programs for national mental health initiatives. This includes a more coordinated national suicide prevention program.

However, as Hack investigated last night, there are some differences between the two parties' approaches.

Mental health is too important to NOT educate yourself on what the major parties are promising.  I urge you to set aside your political leanings and really listen and understand what is on the table for mental health.

Here are the main points covered in the show last night - for more detail here is the link to the full episode.

The Coalition promises to:

• start 12 suicide prevention sites around Australia
• fund 10 more Headspace centres
• spend $12 million on research + $2.5 million on a crisis text service for Lifeline

Labor aims to:

• halve the suicide toll within 10 years (but no details on how yet)
• start 12 regional suicide pilot projects - including one in the Kimberley where there are "epidemic levels of suicide"
• allocated $9 million to research
• start the first data-set of suicide deaths across the country

The Greens will:

• spend $1 billion on mental health over 4 years
• allocate $280 million on rural mental health
• $40 million on anti-stigma campaigns for suicide prevention

For all that information set to groovy mood music, see the video posted to Triple J's website (Source: Triple J Hack program, 28 June 2016)

Love Natasha x