The Productivity Commission has publicly released its Inquiry Report into mental health in Australia, discussing some key influences on people’s mental health and examining the effect of mental health on people’s ability to participate and prosper in the community and workplace.
It also explores the implications more generally for Australia’s economy and productivity.
The final report was handed to the Australian Government on 30 June 2020 and made public on 16 November 2020.
It makes recommendations to the Australian and State and Territory Governments, to improve the mental health of people of all ages and cultural backgrounds, working with people who have experience of mental illness, and with their families and carers.
Recommended reforms extend across workplaces, schools and universities, the justice system, community groups and services for healthcare, psychosocial support, and housing.
It highlights that mental ill-health affects all Australians either directly or indirectly, with almost one in five Australians experiencing mental illness in a given year.
“Many do not receive the treatment and support they need. As a result, too many people experience preventable physical and mental distress, disruptions in education and employment, relationship breakdown, stigma, and loss of life satisfaction and opportunities,” the report states.
“Reform of the mental health system would produce large benefits. These are mainly improvements in people’s quality of life — valued at up to $18 billion annually. There would be an additional annual benefit of up to $1.3 billion due to increased economic participation.
About 90% of the benefits — about $17 billion — could be achieved by adopting identified priority reforms, requiring expenditure of up to $2.4 billion and generating savings of up to $1.2 billion per year.
To create a person centred mental health system, the report states Australia needs reforms that:
- Focus on prevention and early help: early in life and early in illness.
- Provide the right healthcare at the right time for those with mental illness.
- Make sure effective services support recovery in community.
- Provide seamless care, regardless of the level of government providing the funding or service.
Importantly for workplaces, Volume Two of the report (from Page 265) covers a number of pertinent areas for employers, including:
- Mentally healthy workplaces
- Workplace health and safety and workplace mental health
- Workers compensation arrangements and workplace mental health
- Employer intiatives to create mentally health workplaces
- The returns from investing in workplace initiatives
- Improving employer interventions
Recommendation number seven calls to ‘Equip workplaces to be mentally healthy’.
It says there are benefits to workers, employers and the wider community from improvements
to workplace mental health that lower employee absenteeism, increase productivity and
reduce mental health related compensation claims.
As a priority, it recommends:
- Australian, State and Territory Governments should amend Workplace Health and
Safety arrangements in their jurisdiction to make psychological health and safety as
important in the workplace as physical health and safety. - Workers compensation schemes should be amended to provide and fund clinical
treatment and rehabilitation for all mental health related workers compensation
claims for up to a period of 6 months, irrespective of liability.
The report also lists additional reforms that should be considered, including:
- Workplace Health and Safety authorities should develop Codes of practice to assist
employers, particularly small businesses, meet their duty of care in identifying,
eliminating and managing risks to psychological health in the workplace. - Workers compensation schemes should be permitted to provide more flexibility in
premiums for employers who implement workplace initiatives and programs that are
considered highly likely to reduce the risks of workplace related psychological injury
and mental illness for that specific workplace. - Employee assistance program providers and their industry bodies, along with employers and employee representatives, should develop minimum standards for employee assistance programs and for the evaluation of these programs.
- Workplace Health and Safety agencies should monitor and collect evidence from employer-initiated interventions to create mentally healthy workplaces and improve and protect the mental health of their employees and advise employers of effective interventions that would be appropriate for their workplace.
AMMA Advisory Board to examine report
Since 2017, AMMA’s Resources & Energy Mental Health Advisory Board has played a key role in tackling mental health challenges facing the industry.
The Board comprises a range of experience levels across the resources and energy industry, all with a passion for mental health.
One of many focuses for the Board is assisting employers in program development and identifying best practice mental health initiatives.
The implications and opportunities for employers from the report will be an item for discussion at the Board’s next meeting.
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