Election 2025: An Election for Mental Health
The past four years have seen Western Australia weather the storm of the COVID-19 crisis, endure increasing cost of living pressures, and adapt to a change in premier. Amidst these challenges, the government has delivered consistent financial surpluses. However, surpluses only matter if they provide a helping hand to the community through structural change.
During this time, CoMHWA has worked hard to ensure that the voice of lived experience has been heard. Connecting with our members, being part of public forums and supporting the lived experience workforce has reinforced our understanding of systemic problems, but also the solutions that lay in lived experience leadership.
Our vision for a successful 2025-2029 Parliament centres on prioritising mental health. Even with recent positive government investment, and our Minister’s current initiatives to elevate the voice of lived experience, we know that we can always do better.
Our 2025 Election Platform can be ‘An Election for Mental Health’– with its three pillars and seven recommendations – aims to put mental health squarely on the agenda with effective solutions.
Read our full platform: “Election 2025: An Election for Mental Health”
In summary, here is what we are asking of the next government.
Pillar 1: An Alternative to Emergency Departments
Currently, EDs serve as front-line access points to the mental health system. This approach results in ambulance ramping, strains the healthcare system, contributes to budgetary pressures and most importantly, fails individuals in emotional and mental distress. Our first pillar calls for an alternative response for people in crisis, diverting them from EDs. This not only leads to better outcomes and reduced costs but also saves lives.
CoMHWA has researched options for Alternatives to ED’s extensively over the past few years, including a ‘Alternatives to Emergency Departments’ report released in 2019 that recommended a Safe Haven be established in WA. Whilst there was a facility called Safe Haven established near Royal Perth Hospital, its operations, whilst definitely meeting a need, veered away from the original recommendations and intent.
In 2024, we published a research paper on ‘Establishing an Urgent Mental Health Care Centre in Perth’ based on the South Australian model. We also developed a detailed ‘Comparison of Alternatives to EDs’ report.
In October 2024, we gave a brief presentation to the Ministers Office.
The problem:
Emergency Departments aren’t equipped to handle mental health crises, often resulting in unmet needs, trauma, and higher costs on our mental health system.
Our vision:
Everyone in emotional crisis deserves dignity, safety, and connection through peer-led and co-led support services. Emergency Departments are no longer the first call for emotional crisis.
We call on the WA Government to;
1. Make a transformative investment in a community and lived experience-led alternative to Emergency Departments for people in emotional crisis, drawing on models such as the Urgent Mental Health Care Clinic.
Pillar 2: Building a holistic and rights-based system
While some people have positive experiences accessing the public mental health system in Western Australia, many don’t. Human rights and lived experience leadership are not adequately built into the governance, design and operation of the mental health system, and there is an under-investment in community-based mental health services. There is an over-reliance on bed-based mental health services that often only provided limited types of support and commonly use compulsory mental health treatment, seclusion and restraint.
Recent research by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, titled ‘Analysis of unmet need for psychosocial supports outside of the National Disability Insurance Scheme – Final Report’ found that approximately 67,000 Western Australians aged 12–64 years with moderate or severe mental illness who require psychosocial supports. From that CoMHWA’s estimates are that 46,000 of those people are not receiving any psychosocial supports.
The problem:
Because the mental health system operates on a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model, it often fails to meet our people’s needs and causes harm.
Our vision:
People should be entitled to choose amongst mental health services, and when they do, feel respected, treated with dignity and have their needs met.
We call on the WA Government to;
2. Increase funding to co-designed community and peer-led mental health services to address the acknowledged Unmet Need, including Foundational Supports
3. Commission an independent review from researchers, co-led by people with lived experience, on strategies to eliminate seclusion and restraint
4. Enhance access to independent non-legal advocacy as part of the Mental Health Advocacy Service
5. Commit to a Human Rights Act for Western Australia.
Pillar 3: Creating a Culturally Safe System
First Nations people in Western Australia don’t enjoy adequate access to culturally safe mental health and social and emotional wellbeing services. This can result from the way mainstream public mental health services operate, and the lack of fully-funded community-controlled public mental health and social and emotional wellbeing services. As a result, the Closing the Gap targets are not being met.
When examining mainstream public mental health services, people do not always experience culturally safe mental health care that upholds their social and emotional wellbeing. There is a lack of training on cultural safety as well as more work to be done to implement the Gayaa Dhuwi declaration.
The problem:
Mainstream mental health services aren’t culturally safe, and community-controlled services lack funding to meet First Nations people’s needs in Western Australia.
Our Vision:
First Nations people in WA access comprehensive, culturally safe support from mainstream or community-controlled organisations focused on social and emotional wellbeing.
We call on the WA Government to;
6. Provide secure and sustainable funding for current pilot Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services that deliver services based on Social and Emotional Wellbeing
7. Embark on a funded commitment to the upcoming Gayaa Dhuwi Declaration Implementation Plan.
If you would like any further information, please contact our Systemic Advocacy team: sysadvocacy@comhwa.org.au