Dear petition signers,

I am pleased to see the huge response to this Change.org petition calling for the 20 Medicare funded psychology sessions scheme to be extended beyond this year, started by Hayley Prenter.

Prior to running as an independent for the Federal Seat of North Sydney I spent two years working in youth mental health. I believe that it is absolutely essential that we, as a nation, focus on investing in prevention, and maintenance of people's mental health before it reaches a crisis point.

Like Hayley, I am concerned that a reduction in the number of Medicare funded psychology sessions from the current 20 back to the pre-pandemic 10 sessions would be a significant backward step in our national efforts to combat mental health issues. I recently raised this matter with the Minister for Health and Aged care, during question time in Parliament. Noting that experts and the government itself agree that Australians are under significant pressures after covid, natural disasters and the increasing cost of living, I asked why the recent budget did not account for an extension of this program, due to expire at the end of December.

Pleasingly, in response to my question, the Minister for Health indicated that there will in fact be further consideration given to this matter in the coming weeks and that the government will be looking at the 10 additional sessions very closely.

I intend to continue to advocate for the extension of the scheme into 2023 and beyond, and am pleased that the Health Minster has agreed to have further discussions with me as they look into this.

If you would like to listen to my question and the Minister for Health’s response in full you can do so here: Speeches - Kylea Tink | Independent Federal Member for North Sydney https://www.kyleatink.com.au/speeches

Kind regards

Kylea Tink, Independent Federal Member for North Sydney