Productivity Commission Report on Mental Health

Overview

The Australian Government welcomes the Productivity Commission (PC) Inquiry Report on Mental Health. It provides 21 recommendations with 103 associated actions spanning five key themes:

• prevention and early help for people;
• improve people’s experiences with mental healthcare;
• improve people’s experiences with services beyond the health system;
• equip workplaces to be mentally healthy; and
• instil incentives and accountability for improved outcomes.

The PC’s recommendations are outlined in the attached document. For further information and context to the recommendations, the PC Report is available on the PC website at pc.gov.au.

The Inquiry represents one of the most comprehensive and significant reviews of the mental health system based on extensive consultation with the public and key stakeholders. The actions recommended by the PC span a range of policy areas including health, education, employment, social services, justice, work health and safety, and Indigenous Australians.

The Government is carefully considering the PC's recommendations and is consulting with the Australian public and key stakeholders to seek feedback on the recommendations.

Why your views matter

The Government is seeking your views on the final recommendations in the PC Report, particularly with respect to priorities and implementation issues. Previous submissions made to the PC as part of the Inquiry should not be re-submitted.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Privacy and your personal information

The Australian Government Department of Health (the Department) invites you to share your views on the recommendations of the PC Inquiry Report on Mental Health.

Your personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles, and is being collected by the Department, via Citizen Space, for the purposes of conducting a consultation process in relation to the recommendations of the PC Inquiry Report on Mental Health. The Department will collect your personal information at the time that you provide a submission, unless you choose to make a submission anonymously, and you are not reasonably identifiable from the information provided in your submission.

If you consent, the Department may, at its discretion, publish part or all of your submission on the Department’s website. If your submission is published, the Department may identify you and/or your organisation as the author of the submission, if you consent to being identified.  Please note that your email address will not be published and responses may be moderated to remove content that is inappropriate/offensive, or contains sensitive information.

Submissions which have been published on the Department’s website can be accessed by the general public, including people overseas.  Ordinarily, where the Department discloses personal information to an overseas recipient, Australian Privacy Principle (APP) 8.1 requires the Department to take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the APPs. However, if you consent to the publication of your submission, APP 8.1 will not apply to this disclosure and the Department will not be accountable under the Privacy Act for any subsequent use or disclosure of the submission by an overseas recipient, and you will not be able to seek redress under the Privacy Act.

You should not include information in your submission about another individual who is identified, or reasonably identifiable. If you need to include information about another individual in your submission, you will need to inform that individual of the contents of this notice, and obtain their consent to the Department collecting their personal information.

You can get more information about the way in which the Department will manage your personal information, including our privacy policy, at https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/privacy-policy.

You can obtain a copy of the Department’s privacy policy by contacting the Department using the contact details set out below.  The Department’s privacy policy contains information about:

• how you may access the personal information the Department holds about you and how you can seek correction of it; and
• how you may complain about a breach of
  • the APPs; or
  • a registered APP code that binds the Department; and
  • how the Department will deal with such a complaint.

You can contact the Department by telephone on (02) 6289 1555 or freecall 1800 020 103 or by using the online enquiries form at www.health.gov.au.

By making a submission, I acknowledge that:

• I understand that the giving of my consent is entirely voluntary
• I am over the age of 18 years
• I understand the purpose of the collection, use, publication or disclosure of my submission
• I understand that copyright in the content of my submission will vest in the Commonwealth of Australia
• Where relevant, I have obtained the consent of any individuals whose personal information is included in my submission, to the Department collecting this information for the purposes outlined in this notice
• I understand that, where I provide consent to my submission being published, the Department has complete discretion as to whether my submission, in full or part, will be published.