A new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act for Victoria

Research Australia has responded to the Victorian Government’s proposal for a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act. We have proposed that it adopt the following as principles for service design and delivery:

    • New treatments and services are evaluated for their relative clinical and cost effectiveness and user acceptability, and where found to be more efficacious than existing treatments, are made available rapidly to all people who could benefit;
    • Existing treatments and services are evaluated for their relative clinical and cost effectiveness and user acceptability, and discontinued swiftly (and replaced) where they are proven to be less efficacious than alternative treatments;
    • Promoting the importance of research to achieving the best possible mental health and wellbeing;
    • Supporting people with lived experience, their families and carers, and the mental health workforce to co-design and participate in research;

Research Australia’s submission is available here.