Heavy burden of disadvantage

Re ‘Budget unfairness hits mental health’, by Sebastian Rosenberg and Lesley Russell, published in The Canberra Times, 28 May 2014

On May 28, The Canberra Times filed this report about how the recent budget will affect those with mental illness. It stated: “There is now increasing appreciation that despite the rhetoric of burden-sharing associated with the 2014 budget,the most disadvantaged in the community will bear most of the burden. People with a mental illness are among the most disadvantaged in Australian society, and they already confront many barriers to the services they need; this budget raises those barriers and imposes additional costs on them and those caring for them. People with a mental illness still struggle to find any mental health care (let alone quality care). This budget does nothing to increase the poor rates of access to care and indeed on all the available evidence, will contribute to a decline.”

Many Aboriginal communities already contend with high levels of mental illness. Many of these communities are also remote and lack access to basic resources, services and support. These communities already carry an unbearably heavy burden of disadvantage. These communities simply can not afford to carry a heavier burden.