AAPi Director Carly Dober spoke on radio 2SM in response to the delivery of the Federal Government's Mental Health Workforce Strategy this week.
While it welcomed the strategy, AAPi called for urgent action on its recommendations.
"We have solutions that could be actioned immediately to ease the pressure on both clients and psychologists," Carly said. "And while we welcome the 500 new internships for provisional psychologists, we again call on the government to approve the 8000 plus provisional psychologists nationally to be able to provide their services under Medicare, which would make access more affordable for thousands of clients."
In a statement to the media, AAPi Executive Director Tegan Carrison said:
"This report is yet another in a long line that stresses the overwhelming need for our mental health system to be much better.
"It needs to be more accessible, more affordable and far better equipped to cope with the extraordinary mental health demand so evident across Australian communities.
"We continue to call for an increase in the Medicare rebate to $150 for all psychology sessions, and the elimination of the two-tier system which sees clients of clinical psychologists receive a higher rebate than those of registered psychologists for the same service."
Ms Carrison pointed out there was a 32% shortfall in mental health workers compared to the 2019 National Mental Health Service Planning Framework target, and this shortfall is expected to grow to 42% by 2030 if current shortages are not addressed.
*Clients of registered psychologists are rebated $92.90 for a 50-minute session, while clients of clinical psychologists are rebated at $136.36 for the same service.
Download the media release.