S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016

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Mental Health Commission (NMHC), which was established in January 2012. Its first task was to undertake a national audit and review of mental healthcare services, including models and funding arrangements, before making reform recommendations. As part of the review, the NMHC considered inter alia the following: • Specific challenges for regional, rural and remote Australia, • Specific challenges for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The final report was handed to the Government in December 2014 (National Mental Health Commission, 2014). The National Mental Health Commission (2014, Vol. 1, p. 37) found the following in relation to mental health challenges for people in remote areas: • Mental health services in remote areas are transient, and face significant workforce shortages and decreasing services despite high demand. • Funding for mental health programs is inadequate, sporadic and lacks an ongoing basis for the additional demands and costs of service delivery in remote areas. • Access to services could be improved by wider use of technology and increasing community capacity. The report made a number of recommendations related to remote mental healthcare in particular: • ‘Reallocate … Commonwealth acute hospital funding … into more community based psychosocial, primary and community mental health services’ (Recommendation 7). This includes ‘remote areas [being] funded on a more equitable basis to provide better access to services’ (2014, Vol. 1, p. 72). • Mental health workforce development and training,