PM should take the lead on mental health funding reform

If you don't ask, the answer is always no. Premier Daniel Andrews is certainly taking this maxim to heart. After proposing to his federal colleagues that the compulsory superannuation levy should be lifted to 15 per cent (he got a very abrupt "no"), Mr Andrews is now floating the idea of a new national tax or an increase in the Medicare levy to boost funding for mental health services. It's an idea with merit.

Nobody is in doubt about the scale of the problem. An interim report by the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System bluntly described the system as having "catastrophically failed to live up to expectations" and being "woefully unprepared" for future needs. In financial terms, the cost to Victoria is put at $14.2 billion a year.

And a recent Productivity Commission draft report on mental health rang the same alarm bells at a national level. The report points to the need for generational change to a health system that is mostly focused on physical illness, with treatment for mental health "tacked on". It put the cost to the Australian economy at somewhere between $43 billon and $51 billion.

Both interim reports have put on the table some sensible suggestions for reform. The standout idea from Victoria's royal commission is the creation of a mental health collaborative centre, similar to the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, where researchers and experts in clinical and non-clinical areas would work under one roof.