Australians living in rural and remote areas will soon have greater access to mental health services, as the federal government shores up job security for frontline workers.
Changes to funding arrangements for the 31 regional organisations that commission community mental health services across Australia mean they will have three years of guaranteed funding from July.
The organisations, known as Primary Health Networks, will receive $1.45 billion to deliver local services over those three years, which is $170 million more than they received in the previous three.
The PHNs have had inconsistent funding arrangements since they were created in 2015, forcing some mental health professionals to be on short-term contracts.
Health Minister Greg Hunt says the new process will stop that happening.
"This will allow longer term planning, provide job certainty for thousands of people employed in the sector, and deliver a stronger mental health system," he said on Wednesday.
"This will particularly benefit those living in rural and remote areas, where staffing shortages due to employment uncertainty have historically reduced access to mental health services."
PHNs select mental health programs to run in their region based on local needs.
That includes coordinating services for young people and people with severe and complex mental illnesses, along with community-based suicide prevention programs and Indigenous mental health services.
"Since individuals in different communities face different challenges, it is important that services are tailored to meet the specific needs of the local population," Mr Hunt said.
Labor's health spokeswoman Catherine King says the mental health system in Australia needs to be better coordinated, and the government should work with the states and territories to make the system less fragmented.
The fragmentation between hospital, community and primary care services was often confusing for patients, she added.
"So while we welcome the certainty in the funding we certainly don't think the government has done enough yet," Ms King told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The PHNs will still have to meet agreed performance measures to have their funding extended by another year under the changes.
But assuming they meet their targets, they'll always have three years of funding ahead.
About 200,000 Australians accessed 900,000 mental health services through local providers commissioned by the network's in 2017-18.
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