Australians for Mental Health (AFMH) has welcomed the Federal Government’s new Disability Peer Support and Connections Program, calling the $517 million investment a meaningful step toward building the community-based mental health infrastructure Australia urgently needs.
The program, now open for applications, will fund organisations to deliver peer support, capacity building and community connection for Australians with disability under the age of 65, regardless of their eligibility for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
AFMH said the initiative reflects growing recognition that clinical services alone cannot meet the scale of Australia’s mental health challenge.
“For too long, Australians living with disability, particularly those with complex mental health challenges, have fallen through the cracks of a system that only responds to crisis,” said Australians for Mental Health Executive Director Chris Gambian.
“This program recognises that community connection and peer support - not clinical intervention alone - is what helps people to stay well. That’s exactly the kind of shift we’ve been calling for and we welcome it.”
The announcement comes amid broader efforts to reform the NDIS and develop alternative supports outside the scheme, as governments look to ease pressure on a system now supporting more than 760,000 Australians and costing around $50 billion annually.
AFMH said the funding will play an important role in building the foundational supports that are missing from Australia’s mental health and disability systems - particularly for those with lower or emerging needs who do not qualify for intensive packages.
“This is exactly the kind of support that was meant to sit alongside the NDIS but never fully materialised,” Mr Gambian said.
But AFMH warned short-term, competitive grant programs are still not a substitute for sustained investment.
“Right now, many of the organisations doing this work are forced to rely on fragmented, short-term funding,” Mr Gambian said.
“If we are serious about prevention and wellbeing, we need to move beyond grants and invest in these models for the long term.”
AFMH is calling for a whole-of-government approach to mental health, including a national Wellbeing Act and dedicated Commissioner to ensure systems across health, education, housing and disability are working together to support people before they reach crisis point.
“Mental ill-health is a whole-of-government problem. Until every department is required to factor mental health into its decision-making, the way we do for the environment, we will keep spending more and falling further behind.
“We must invest more in the communities and connections that keep people well in the first place.”
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