1-8 June
- Jun 11, 2025
- 4 min read
Monday 2/06 Media Summary
After a short hiatus, media coverage about the public psychiatrist crisis in NSW has resumed with a bang.
The following two ABC pieces are teasers for tonight's Four Corners Special:
They’ve seen mental health care pushed to breaking point, and are sounding the alarm
With @~Anu Kataria, @Dr Suzie Goodison and @~James Lawler
Why are so many psychiatrists quitting
This is a podcast of a panel discussion at the recent Congress about training impacts:
Psychiatry Training amidst the New South Wales Workforce Crisis: A Panel Discussion at Congress 2025
Monday 2 June 2025 at 8:30pm
ABC Four Corners: Emergency
In true Four Corners style, expect no holds to be barred and nothing to be off limits.
It will be available here after the broadcast on Monday night:
Tuesday 03/06
4 corners has definitely gotten plenty of people talking.
The families seeing their loved ones abandoned by a mental health system in crisis
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-03/mental-health-care-system-nsw-families-four-corners/105354226
Nowhere to Turn: Inside Australia’s Mental Health Crisis
Minister responds to claims of a broken mental health system
With Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson, continuing to show that Government maths is a strong suit claiming that a 25% recruitment and retention incentive will cost $700m, conveniently neglecting to mention the Ministry's assumptions that this number was over forward estimates and that every single public psychiatrist in NSW was paid at the Senior Staff Specialist rate
Last night's episode is also available on YouTube, as well as via the ABC.
After Minister Rose Jackson confidently declared to ABC Sydney that the psychiatrists claim will bankrupt NSW to the tune of $700m, she had the chutzpah to repeat the claim in Parliament. When Susan Carter MLC asked her to explain the discrepancy between the $700m and the Government's own evidence that the actual cost was $30m per year, she protested that it wasn't fair to compare apples with other apples.
See the video below.
Notwithstanding her clumsy interpretation of idioms, it's difficult to know if her grasp of Government mathematics is any better.
Let's do some Government Maths.
$700m over four years of forward estimates = $175m pa. If there are 400 FTE psychiatrists in the system (a generous assumption even in January this year) that's a cost of $430k per FTE per annum. Which if you listen to what she says later in the day, is exactly what they're paying already.
Minister Jackson was taken to task by radio journalist Mark Levy on 2GB
Levy takes on Mental Health Minister over brutal wait times - 3 June 2025
The full show is available here if you want to hear it - the first 10 minutes is worth a listen:
Calls from the audience start from about time stamp 35:50.
Dr Pramudie Gunaratne set the record straight on ABC Drive with Chris Bath and The Briefing:
ABC Sydney Drive - 3 June 2025
Timestamp 2:03:55-2:12:24 featuring Pramudie Gunaratne.
Whistleblowers warn mental health system is overwhelmed
Timestamp 10:27-20:55 featuring DrPramudie Gunaratne
Prof Sam Harvey of the Black Dog tells it like it is on Radio National:
NSW public mental health system at crisis point
And you know you've finally made it when you are featured in the Betoota Advocate:
Four Corners reveal mental healthcare has bee gradually getting worse since the States sold off all the institutions that provided mental healthcare
ICYMI, last night's episode is also available via the ABC.
-----ABC Sydney Drive with Chris Bath 3 June 2025
Wednesday 04/06 Media Summary
People with severe mental illness are waiting for days in hospital EDs. Here’s how we can do better
Mark Levy on 2GB was at it again today, reiterating his dismay at the state of public mental health care, and blaming both sides of the House for this disaster:
Time stamp: 10:00-12:40
Mental Health Services and Psychiatry Workforce issues have been discussed at length at NSW Parliament House over the last two days.
Hansard entries from Tuesday 3 June
Question from Susan Carter MLC from the Opposition in the Legislative Council
Comment from Dr Amanda Cohn MLC from the Greens in the Legislative Council
Question from Robyn Preston MLA from the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly
Robyn Preston also gave a private member's statement about the Collapse of the Mental Health Care System early in the morning in the Legislative Assembly.
The speech is also attached below.
Hansard entries from Wednesday 4 June
Psychiatrist Workforce matters were also debated in the Legislative Council today:
Read on to see how the Minister's apples with apples analogy has been compared to a fruit shop that pushed up its prices.
Other questions were raised in the Legislative Council (Upper House) about mental health services:
Meanwhile in the Legislative Assembly (Lower House), Robyn Preston asked Health Minister Ryan Park if he thought the wait times quoted in 4 Corners were acceptable, and whilst he replied that it wasn't okay, he then spent the remainder of his time claiming that this government was spending more money than ever on mental health, including a record breaking wage offer:
The remaining coverage of Mental Health Issues in the Assembly largely focused more on changes to Workers' Compensation laws with an emphasis on the proposed changes to the WPI threshold, with Opposition MLAs asking if Government MLAs have backflipped on previous comments made years ago. I'll include them here for interest.
Long Weekend 07/06 Media Summary
Mornings with Mark Levy on 2GB – Full Show 6th June
Timestamp 09:35-13:12 and 1:07:16-1:10:42
Psychiatry must get back to core care skills
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