Mental Health Policies: A Comparative Analysis of Australian Parties

This report provides a comparative analysis of the mental health policies of the Liberal Party of Australia and the Australian Labour Party. It examines the parties' differing viewpoints on mental health issues, including their proposed funding allocations and approaches to addressing the challenges. The report delves into the ideologies underpinning these policies, highlighting the parties' priorities and strategies for improving mental health services and support. Furthermore, it explores the potential impact of these policies on the practices of social workers, considering how policy information influences their roles and responsibilities in addressing mental health concerns within the community. The analysis is supported by references from various sources, including governmental and academic publications.

Running head: GOVERNMENT POLICY AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Government Policy and Civil Society
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the Issue:.................................................................................................................3
Ideology of parties:....................................................................................................................4
Impact of Policy information on the practices of the social workers:........................................6
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................6
References:.................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction:
The enhancement of the quality of the social dealings from the part of the political
parties is regarded as one of the important factors that increases their acceptance level
amongst the general citizens. As per the comments of Slothuus (2016), the success of the
political parties in safeguarding the general citizens and raising the issues that affect the
general citizens to the policy makers or the law makers, is a substantial factor that enhances
their acceptance amongst the citizens. These sorts of topics vary from political issues, general
issues, social issues to health related issues. One such issue that is observed to gain
considerable amount of priority amongst the political parties of Australia is seen to be topic
of mental health. The study analyses the viewpoint of two of the largest political parties of
the nation which are Liberal Party of Australia and Australian Labour Party on the topic of
mental health. Along with that the study analyses the concept of mental health and the ways
in which it requires to be managed. In addition to this, the study shows the way in which the
policy information has the potential to affect my practice as a social worker.
Analysis of the Issue:
As per the comment of Pilgrim (2019), the mental health has greater priority for the
modern professionals and general citizens and that is visible with the wide range of activities
that are employed for enhancing the quality of the mental health of the general citizens.
According to the reports of World Health Organization, the good mental health is primarily
linked with the psychological and mental well- being of the general individuals (Who.int,
2020). According to the reports of WHO, the increasing urgency and speed associated with
the lifestyle of the general citizens, is certainly putting some excessive pressure on the mental
stability of the individuals and the work life imbalance is affecting the mental well- being of
the general citizens (Who.int, 2020). Having said that, Auerbach et al. (2016), mentioned that

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the mental stress or disturbances is playing a substantial role in reducing the performances of
the individuals at the organizational context and at the same time, it is affecting the quality of
the services of those individuals.
On the other hand, Levecque et al. (2017), mentioned that the mental stress is
affecting the personal life of the general citizens as well and that is prominent with the
detrimental impact of the same with the formation of the interpersonal conflicts in personal
life. In addition to this, Rice et al. (2016), mentioned some of the crucial factors that promote
the mental illness with the claim that the excessive pressure of job, lack of break time during
the operational hours, stressful operational activities, concerns of job targets and harassment
at workplace affect the mental health of the general citizens in a detrimental manner. Along
with that, Rice et al. (2016), further added that the personal life related factors that promote
the mental illness are the anxiety or stress with the health and relationship with the other
members of the family. For tackling the same, the government authorities require to intervene
in the formulation of the appropriate industry standard wage and work time characteristics
along with job target policies and provisions for safeguarding the employees from workplace
harassments.
Ideology of parties:
Liberal Party of Australia is observed to have greater significance for the
management of the health care or more specifically, for the management of the mental health.
The party is seen to put strong emphasis on the betterment of the medical research and at the
same time, is keen on enhancing the infrastructure and quality of medicines. Having said that,
the betterment of the mental health of the citizens of the nation is regarded as one of the top
most priority for the party. The party is determined in increasing the funding for the mental
health to 5.2 billion US dollars (Liberal.org.au, 2020). The substantial investment is expected

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to cover various aspects which includes the community mental health and mental health
research, support services for the current and former Australian Defence Force professionals,
telehealth access for the psychological activities in the regional areas along with the
assistance services for the prevention of the suicides (Liberal.org.au, 2020). Other than this,
the Liberal Party are seen to fund for approximately 153 headspace services to be initiated by
the year 2022 along with innovative and specialist residential facilities for tackling the
challenge of eating disorder (Liberal.org.au, 2020). Apart from that, the weightage of the
issue to the Liberal Party is prominent with a significant investment of 503.1 million US
dollars for the execution of the Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan
(Liberal.org.au, 2020).
Australian Labour Party also have a unique viewpoint to the mentioned challenge.
The party analysed the topic and found out that approximately 65000 number of individuals
are affected with severe psychological disability (Apo.org.au, 2020). Along with that, 625000
number of individuals are affected with episodic illness with complex needs (Apo.org.au,
2020). In addition to this, the health care report of the party is pretty significant in estimating
an approximate 3 million people that are expected to be affected with the mental health
(Apo.org.au, 2020). A report formulated by the Australian Labour Party claimed that 2500
number of people died from suicide in the nation in the year 2012 and that certainly
highlights the severity of the issue (Apo.org.au, 2020). The party is perfectly in alignment
with the recommendations proposed by the Mental Health Commission of the nation. The
party voices the necessity of a substantial increment in the budgetary allocations. The
increment in the budget for the mental health is much required for improving the
infrastructure used for the treatment and at the same time, the community development, aged
care services and mental well -being activities are to be managed with the investment in a
professional manner (Apo.org.au, 2020). On the other hand, the party believes that a certain

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level of relaxation in the formulation of the wage and work time characteristics is much
needed for eliminating the mental stress of the individuals developing at the organizational
context.
Impact of Policy information on the practices of the social workers:
With a detailed consideration towards the impact of the policy information, it is
understandable that the pressure of job on the social workers is expected to increase. A large
number of Australian citizens are expected to be affected with the mental health issues in
near future and in order to tackle the same, the demands of the services of the social workers
is estimated to increase. Other than this, the policy information play a crucial role in stating
the importance of errorless services from the part of the professionals operating in the mental
health care industry. With a detailed consideration towards such a necessity, the social
workers are required to participate in the intensive training activities for delivering top
quality errorless services. In addition to this, the policy information show greater significance
for the community development and awareness development activities (Chacko et al., 2016).
In such situation, the social workers who have the objective to work for the betterment of the
mental health of the people of the nation, are in need to improve their ability of public
speaking and discussions. The mentioned skill will certainly add value to their ability of
managing the social practices.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, the health care or more specifically the mental health is
observed to achieve greater significance in the political system of Australia. Both the parties
are observed to ask for increased amount of budgetary allocations for the desired
improvement in the infrastructure, health care services, medicine and training of the
professionals In addition to this, both the parties are primarily focused in raising the

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awareness amongst the people of the nation regarding the issue and the probable ways to
tackle the same.

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References:
Apo.org.au (2020). Retrieved 19 February 2020, from
https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2015/10/apo-nid63469-
1239461.htm
Auerbach, R. P., Alonso, J., Axinn, W. G., Cuijpers, P., Ebert, D. D., Green, J. G., ... & Nock,
M. K. (2016). Mental disorders among college students in the World Health
Organization world mental health surveys. Psychological medicine, 46(14), 2955-
2970.
Chacko, A., Jensen, S. A., Lowry, L. S., Cornwell, M., Chimklis, A., Chan, E., ... & Pulgarin,
B. (2016). Engagement in behavioral parent training: Review of the literature and
implications for practice. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 19(3), 204-
215.
Levecque, K., Anseel, F., De Beuckelaer, A., Van der Heyden, J., & Gisle, L. (2017). Work
organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Research Policy, 46(4),
868-879.
Liberal.org.au (2020). Better Health Care. Retrieved 19 February 2020, from
https://www.liberal.org.au/our-plan/health
Pilgrim, D. (2019). Key concepts in mental health. SAGE Publications Limited.
Rice, S. M., Purcell, R., De Silva, S., Mawren, D., McGorry, P. D., & Parker, A. G. (2016).
The mental health of elite athletes: a narrative systematic review. Sports medicine,
46(9), 1333-1353.
Slothuus, R. (2016). Assessing the influence of political parties on public opinion: The
challenge from pretreatment effects. Political Communication, 33(2), 302-327.

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Who.int (2020). Mental Health. Retrieved 19 February 2020, from
https://www.who.int/mental_health/en/