Earlier this morning, the Victorian Government announced that if re-elected it will introduce a Royal Commission into Mental Health.

We welcome this announcement, which follows years of campaigning by thousands of HACSU mental health clinicians who have publicly exposed the rapidly escalating crisis in Victoria’s mental health services.

Despite significant increases in population and service demands, Victoria has seen a 9% decline in beds per 100,000 of population. This means Victoria’s investment in mental health services is now almost 40% below the national average.

There is a crisis in staffing across the sector, particularly in beds in adult acute units, where a one-size-fits-all approach is not working. We have seen in recent media reports the tragic outcomes for clients who fail to gain access to mental health services—leaving overstretched facilities and tragically taking their own lives.

We look forward to working with a re-elected Andrews Government to ensure that the Terms of Reference go directly to the workforce undersupply issues at the heart of the crisis.