The Prime Minister Scott Morrison today has made a strong commitment to mental health and domestic violence support. Social distancing measures and job losses mean that Social Services and Not-for-Profits are already experiencing an increase in demand, with Google reporting a 75% increase in people searching for domestic violence help.

Before passing on to the Minister for Health, the Prime Minister called on businesses to hold off making any critical decisions about their workforce until their next package is released in the coming days.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the measures announced today are about taking care of all Australians at a time of profound and understandable stress. Anxiety, depression, loneliness are all by-products of the necessary measures put in place to protect our health and economy. However, latest advice from this morning is that there are early positive signs of the curve flattening, indicating that the measures in place are having an impact and we should continue to follow social distancing requirements.

Medicare support at home

The Prime Minister said that some 750,000 telehealth services had already been delivered and that the expansion of telehealth to all medical services, including GPs, mental health treatment, specialists, after-hours consultations and nurse practitioners represents approximately 10 years of work completed in just a few days. This represents a massive shift in how healthcare is delivered. 

• $669m to expand Medicare-subsidised telehealth services for all Australians, with extra incentives to GPs and other health practitioners also delivered.
• GP bulk billing incentive will be doubled and an incentive payment will be established to support practices stay open to provide face to face services that can’t be treated through telehealth. The new arrangements will be in place until 30 September 2020.

Read the MBS Fact Sheet with more details about the changes and what it means for providers here.

Domestic violence support 

• Initial $150m provided to support Australians experiencing domestic, family and sexual violence due to the fallout from coronavirus.
• The funding will boost programs under the National Plan to reduce Violence against Women and their Children.
• A new public communication campaign will roll out to support those experiencing domestic violence over this period and to ensure those affected know where they can seek help.

Mental health support

• Initial $74m will be provided to support the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians.
• $10m to create a dedicated coronavirus wellbeing support line, delivered by Beyond Blue.
• $14m to increase the capacity of mental health support providers, including $5m for Lifeline and $2m for Kids Helpline.
• Health workers will receive dedicated mental health support through digital platforms.
• $10m to the Community Visitors Scheme to help connect older people in aged care with the community and loved ones online and by phone.
• $6.75m to deliver the headspace digital work and study service and eheadspace to support young Australians with schoolwork and life skills.
• For Indigenous Australians, whose elders and communities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts coronavirus, Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia will develop culturally appropriate mental health and wellbeing resources.
• $28.3m to continue to deliver psychosocial support to Commonwealth community mental health clients for a further 12 months.

Relief services for vulnerable Australians

• Additional $200m to support charities and other community organisations which provide emergency and food relief.
• Immediately scale-up services through the National Debt Helpline — which is often the first point of contact for people experiencing financial difficulties, and to support one-on-one tele-financial counselling.
• Short-form Financial Counselling course through Financial Counselling Australia to train new financial counsellors to boost the workforce, potentially providing hundreds of new jobs.
• Expanding access to safe, affordable financial products through the No Interest Loan Scheme which provides an immediate financial relief alternative to other high-risk, high-interest products such as credit cards and payday loans.

You can read the full details of the package released today here.