Australians seeking mental health care would be able to access subsidised sessions with psychologists under supervision as part of a Greens plan to provide free healthcare.
In a bid to shore up the mental health workforce and reduce client waitlists, the minor party has suggested provisional psychologists be able to provide support under Medicare.
Australians have been forced to wait months for mental health care as growing demand weighs on overstretched psychologists.
But there are about 8000 provisional psychologists who have completed a minimum of four years at university and are embarking on a final period of supervised practice to complete their registration.
Allowing them to provide sessions under Medicare will improve affordable access and ease the mental health crisis, according to the Greens and the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.
The Greens will announce their flagship election policy to put mental health into Medicare in Melbourne's inner south as it targets the Labor-held seat of Macnamara on Thursday.
"If you're putting off mental healthcare because you can't afford it, you're not alone," Greens leader Adam Bandt said.
A similar policy has been taken to previous elections, but the latest iteration vows to provide unlimited access to mental health sessions on Medicare after Labor introduced a 10-session cap in 2022.
It will also offer free psychologist sessions at 1000 local healthcare clinics across Australia and increase the number of peer workers.
About 43 per cent of Australians have experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but 24 per cent of those who needed to see a psychologist delayed or did not do so because of the cost.
The plan is expected to cost almost $6 billion over the next decade with another $31 billion needed for the local healthcare clinics, which will be covered by taxing big corporations.
Australian Association of Psychologists Inc supports the Greens' calls but has urged the major political parties to take a non-partisan approach to mental health.
This comes after the Commonwealth's COVID-19 report found psychological health worsened during the pandemic and urged the the government to prioritise investment in mental health support.
With a federal election due by May 2025, the Labor government has ramped up its campaign efforts and accused the Greens of being overly obstructionist to progressive policies.
Federal ministers claimed this contributed to a disappointing result for the Greens at the recent Queensland election, where the minor party lost a seat.
But Greens politicians have rebuffed these accusations, with Mr Bandt claiming Labor lost at the state contest because it gave up on government and focused on attacking the minor party.
