Peak bodies and community-managed organisations come together to call for urgent reform and investment in mental health
Mental Health Coordinating Council is part of a group of peak bodies, community-managed and not-for-profit organisations that have come together to form the NSW Mental Health Alliance.
This Alliance represents the interests of the mental health service sector and its workforce, people with lived and living experience of mental health challenges, and carers and kin from across New South Wales. We are united in calling for urgent reform and investment in the mental health service system and are championing systemic reform and redesign with the NSW Government.
LATEST UPDATES
NSW Budget – Modest Mental Health Funding Welcome — But Nowhere Near Enough to Stem the Crisis
25 JUNE 2025
JOINT STATEMENT
The NSW Government has announced a modest investment in mental health in the 2025-26 State Budget. This investment will meet neither current or future demands on the mental health service system nor address the reasonable expectations from the people of NSW.
As the NSW Mental Health Alliance, we now call for urgent and ongoing investment to address three critical priorities:
Planning: Build a connected system through better planning, monitoring, and integration across mental health, primary care, and community services.
Workforce: Tackle the chronic shortage of mental health professionals by investing in recruitment, retention, and support — including in the community-managed sector.
Community-based care: Fund early intervention and long-term access to mental health and psychosocial supports that keep people experiencing ongoing mental health challenges well and out of hospital.
People in NSW are paying the price as the mental health
system struggles to cope with workforce shortages, says NSW Mental Health Alliance
25 SEPTEMBER 2024
JOINT STATEMENT
In response to the article published in The Daily Telegraph on Sunday, September 22, 2024, the NSW Mental Health Alliance says it is deeply concerned about the number of people experiencing mental health challenges in NSW that are struggling to access the care, treatment and supports they desperately need. This is partly because of the workforce crisis that exists in the state’s public and community-based mental health services which continue to impact on health service availability and service user’s wellbeing and potential for recovery. The Alliance is urging the NSW Government to work with the sector to immediately implement policy changes that attract, train, and retain more mental health workers.
Leading mental health groups welcome national reform commitments, urge ongoing coordinated action
20 AUGUST 2024
JOINT STATEMENT
Leading mental health groups welcome the recent commitments at the Health and Mental Health Ministers’ meeting as a crucial step forward for mental health reform in Australia. The NSW Mental Health Alliance commends the nation’s state and federal Health and Mental Health Ministers for meeting and aligning on a number of the sector’s key recommendations, while emphasising that continued, coordinated action is crucial to ensure these reforms make a real difference in the lives of Australians.
No health without mental health: include Mental Health Reform in the National Health Reform Agreement
3 JULY 2024
JOINT STATEMENT
As representatives of Australia’s leading mental health organisations, we come together to call for immediate and coordinated action to address the critical gap in mental health care between Federal and State/Territory services. This gap currently leaves Australians without adequate mental health support, leading to significant distress in the community and increased cost to the health system. Federal and State/Territory Governments now have the opportunity to bridge this gap, by agreeing to joint funding arrangements and a roadmap for long-term reform within the upcoming National Health Reform Agreement, as recommended by the Productivity Commission and the NHRA Review.
Stop playing politics and start real reform, says NSW Mental Health Alliance
4 JUNE 2024
JOINT STATEMENT
The NSW Mental Health Alliance is calling on the Minns Government to take decisive action to fully implement the recommendations outlined in the Upper House Inquiry report into mental health care in New South Wales. The report, developed after months of consultation with stakeholders, highlights critical issues within the current mental health system and provides a clear roadmap for necessary reforms to improve mental health services and outcomes across the state.
Community mental health gaps continue to widen in NSW, says new report from NSW Health
19 MAY 2024
JOINT STATEMENT
The NSW Mental Health Alliance provided a joint statement in response to the NSW Community Mental Health Services Priority Issues Paper released in May 2024 which identified four priority areas for reform: enhanced funding for community mental health services, workforce, and training, improving emergency mental health care, as well as the expansion of psychosocial supports, such as homelessness services and recovery programs. It also proposed solutions for service demand though workforce priorities, infrastructure, and investment to be urgently implemented. Our advocacy continues in supporting these areas that require urgent investment.
NSW has the lowest spend per capita for mental health services compared to all states and territories in Australia, when rates of psychological distress in NSW have almost doubled over the last decade.
The alliance is urging all political parties for a commitment to the following:
Planning: Build a connected system through better planning, monitoring, and integration across mental health, primary care, and community services.
Workforce: Tackle the chronic shortage of mental health professionals by investing in recruitment, retention, and support — including in the community-managed sector.
Community-based care: Fund early intervention and long-term access to mental health and psychosocial supports that keep people experiencing ongoing mental health challenges well and out of hospital.
The report reveals critical issues in the state’s mental health system that need urgent government attention, following the NSW State of Mental Health survey conducted in early 2023 with over 1,300 mental health practitioners including community workers, peer workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, GPs, and carers,
A joint statement from CEOs and leaders of the NSW Mental Health Alliance was issued to urge the government and opposition to act on key commitments.
The report was launched at a press conference on Tuesday 14 March 2023 which members of the alliance and the media attended.
RANZCP NSW 2023 State Election Candidate Forum
This interactive online event was an opportunity to hear directly from NSW political parties about their plans for the mental health system in the lead-up to the NSW Election on 25 March 2023. Participants also had the opportunity to provide direct feedback on their views and to hear from experts from RANZCP and other organisations.
Shifting the balance: investment priorities for mental health in nsw
Mental Health Coordinating Council also submitted a report, Shifting the Balance: Investment Priorities for Mental Health in NSW, to Members of Parliament to advocate for greater investment to support community-managed mental health. See our four key recommendations in the report.
The NSW Mental Health Alliance was launched in 2023 with the report 
Mental Health Coordinating Council also submitted a report,