Report says Australia should increase funding for mental health

Published: 2006-01-05

PERTH, Australia (CNS) -- Despite its efforts to improve the mental health care system, the Australian government needs to increase its funding over the next five years, said an independent report. Keith Wilson, former health minister of Western Australia and a former Episcopal minister who became Catholic, said the funding for mental health services has been at a "very low level for a very long time." Wilson is chairman of the Mental Health Council of Australia, which collaborated with the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the University of Sydney Brain and Mind Research Institute to produce the 2005 report, "Not for Service." Information and conclusions in the report were based on public forums in Australian state capitals and major cities within a four-month period in 2004, individual consultations, written submissions and surveys.

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