Australia's mental health system

Overview

Mental health is a key component of overall health and wellbeing (WHO 2021). In any year in Australia, an estimated 1 in 5 people aged 16–85 will experience a mental disorder (ABS 2023). A person’s mental health affects and is affected by multiple factors, including access to services, living conditions and employment status, and impacts not only the individual but also their families and carers (Slade et al. 2009; WHO 2021). Mental health and physical health are inter-related and people with mental illnesses are more likely to develop physical illness and tend to die earlier than the general population (Lawrence et al. 2013).

The importance of good mental health, and its impact on Australians, has long been recognised by Australian governments. Over the last 3 decades governments have worked together to develop mental health programs and services to better address the needs of Australians.

Throughout this section, the terms ‘mental illness’ and ‘mental disorder’ are both used to describe a wide range of mental health and behavioural disorders, which can vary in both severity and duration.

Roles and responsibilities

A range of mental health services are funded in Australia by the different levels of government, insurers and/or individuals with services delivered by both government and non-government providers. For example, the Australian Government funds consultations with specialist medical practitioners, general practitioners (GPs), psychologists and other allied health practitioners through the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), other primary mental health services through the Primary Health Networks, support for psychosocial disabilities through the National Disability Insurance Scheme and subsidised medication via the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Access to psychiatrists, psychologists and other allied health professionals may, dependent on eligibility, be subsidised through initiatives such as Better Access initiative.

State and territory governments fund and provide mental health services through residential mental health care, community mental health care, specialised mental health care facilities and public hospitals, including emergency departments.

In addition to services provided or subsidised by governments, services are also provided by the community sector, such as crisis and support services like Lifeline, Beyond Blue and Kids Helpline. Services delivered in private hospitals are funded via private health insurance, contracted care through state and territory governments and/or out-of-pocket payments.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare monitors and reports on a number of different mental health indicator sets that have been developed to measure the performance and progress in the delivery of services across the mental health sector. Performance indicators are generally developed for a specific purpose, for example, measuring changes after commitment to a national strategy.

National developments since 2020

There have been number of changes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that have impacted mental health related service activity in Australia. For more detail, refer to the Services Activity Monitoring section.

Figure 1: National developments

Service access

The 2020–2022 National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing collected data on mental health service access in the preceding 12 months. From this survey, it is estimated that 3.4 million Australians aged 16–85 saw a health professional for their mental health in the previous 12 months (ABS 2023). 

Of persons with a lifetime mental disorder who experienced symptoms within the last 12 months: 

• 36% consulted a general practitioner for mental health
• 21% consulted a psychologist
• 10% consulted a psychiatrist
• 13% consulted another health professional

An estimated 944,900 Australians aged 16–85 also accessed at least one service for mental health via digital technologies, such as crisis support, treatment programs or information from late 2020 to late 2022 (ABS 2023). Of those who did not access mental health services, the majority (89%) reported that they felt no need to access any mental health services (Figure 2).

In 2023–24, 49% of MBS mental health specific services were provided by psychologists (including clinical psychologists), 27% were provided by general practitioners (GPs) and 21% were provided by psychiatrists (AIHW 2025).