The recently announced increased expenditure on mental health treatment will not deliver the treatment that most people need because that treatment is psychotherapy and that is not what the Australian Government is buying.

Recently $1.4 Billion of funding was announced to extend the provision of mental health treatment. Psychotherapy is the first-line treatment for most problems of living. The clinical work or 'treatment' provided to headspace like centres is largely provided through the MBS scheme 'Better Access'. This is not psychotherapy, but rather short term focused psychological strategies provided by people who often have minimal training. Medical practitioners have little knowledge or training in psychotherapy so there has been a failure to lobby for the right dose of, the right for of psychotherapy at the right time. Psychotherapy remains inaccessible to most people.

Psychotherapy is a craft which is unregulated in Australia. Eligibility to provide 'Better Access' (limited to a few guilds) has become a proxy qualification signifying competency in psychotherapy, despite eligibility being conferred after only a few days of training for some groups. Researchers at SCU have repeated surveyed mental health nurses (a regulated profession) and found many hold Masters qualifications in psychotherapy or have specific expertise but they cannot provide a subsidised service at all. In Germany, psychotherapy is regulated and funded. Australia has over twice the number of psychologists and psychiatrists than Germany but on almost every indicator, has worse mental health. Increasing services, without increasing the supply of skilled psychotherapists will not increase accessibility to the right treatment at the right time or improve affordability of therapy when some guilds have a monopoly on providing a subsidised service.