Mission Australia welcomes the discussion paper in the context of the Commonwealth’s broader social inclusion agenda, particularly given the strong links between poverty, unemployment, social exclusion and mental health. There is strong evidence that many people with a disability or mental illness are currently excluded from the Australian community in a range of areas of their life. This has both individual social and economic consequences, as well as negative consequences at the societal level.

Critical to enhancing the employment of people with a mental health issue/illness will be greater collaboration and shared responsibility between governments and sectors (including mental health, employment, drug and alcohol, as well as training, housing, family support etc) where to date only limited collaboration exists. Mission Australia supports a National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy to provide a national framework for efforts in this area.