Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee [Part 2], , 3:00:28 to 3:03:08
An update on the status of negotiations for a replacement National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement and the continuation of funding bilaterals beyond 2027.
Topics: Health, Social services
Speakers: Senator Anne Ruston, Dr Liz Develin, Unknown Speaker, Gavin Matthews
Hi, Mr. Matthews. Um, I'm just wondering what progress has been made towards um a replacement agreement for the um National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention um agreement um given we had a 12 months extension to allow more time um in order to consider the replacement agreement. So, where are we at with that? Senator,
I'm I'm happy to advise that mental health and health ministers met as recently as last week to talk about uh the future agreement. There is no decision yet as to the time frame for that, but it is an active conversation between health and mental health ministers across the country.
>> So when does the 12-month extension expire?
>> At the end of June 2027.
>> So June 2027. Um so has there been um any money allocated over the forwards
uh the the bilaterals which is where largely the funding goes is is has a termination largely in 2027.
>> Okay. So
>> there are some there are some elements in there that are you know are provisioned ongoing and some are not. So there's a bit of a variation in there. So Senator
>> Okay. Is it possible to get the um the breakdown of of those that are provisioned is there have did the ministers to the best of your knowledge have a commitment that they would have this agreement back in place by the >> or a new agreement in place sorry by the June 2027.
>> So obviously the options open to ministers are to extend or negotiate a a further form of agreement.
>> Okay. Um so there's no sort of necessary commitment in relation to absolutely having it in place by the 30th of June 2027. So there is the prospect of another rollover is still very real.
>> I think all ministers really appreciate [clears throat] the importance of the agreement and particularly the funding that is provided under it. There's also a very live conversation obviously around the need to provide certainty to the sector because we appreciate a lot of NGO partners funded through the programs under the agreement.