The federal government has committed nearly $737 million over seven years to address Australia's rising suicide rate, but the state's peak mental health body says without flexibility it could mean nothing for Tasmania.
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Tuesday's federal budget announcement included $461 million for youth mental health prevention services, with Headspace set to receive about $373 million in total, including $111 million to build an additional 30 centres.
While pleased with the government's acknowledgement of prevention and early intervention, Mental Health Council of Tasmania chief executive Connie Digolis said it remained disappointed by the "siloed approach".
"What has frustrated us with the budget announcement is that it appears to have gone to one or two national providers and what we are always concerned with is the practicality of applying a national model to our Tassie context," she said.
"There are instances where we can see that if we just had some greater flexibility to meet needs, to be able to look at some of our specific challenges - for example rural and remote access, having enough clinical staff to provide these services.
"The announcements don't mean anything unless we have the people and the connections within communities to be able to, A: provide the service, and B: get the people to the services."
Ms Digolis said the budget announcement did not align with state government's commitment to develop an integrated mental health system, because it failed to consider local needs.
"This flies in the face of a regional plan," she said,
"Because there is no consideration to what the local needs are and the local system and how we can address what we need, on a regional level.
"We still don't quite understand what these announcements will mean for Tasmania."
With submissions for a productivity commission inquiry into mental health due by April 5, Ms Digolis said she hoped it would lead to greater transparency around the specific challenges facing Tasmania.
"We know everybody is reporting an increased number of presentations at the ED, that is a national issue, no question," she said.
"I think a lot of our [Tasmania] challenges would be similar, but I think the way we could address those challenges is where we start seeing the differences.
"For Tassie, our particular challenges are our socio-economic population, our ageing population, our lack of transport infrastructure and our highly dispersed population.
"That [budget] is just one band-aid solution, and as much as we welcome the additional investment, we would have loved to have seen more influence or confirmation there would be more influence, and local consultation."
- Lifeline 13 11 14
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