- Published:
- Thursday 29 January 2026 at 8:44 pm
Introduction
The Victorian Government has introduced a Bill into Parliament that includes significant changes to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 (the MHW Act). The proposed changes directly affect the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission (the Commission) and the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing (the VCC).
The Bill is called the Entities Amendment Legislation (Consolidation and Other Matters) Bill 2025 (the Bill) and addresses many other matters beyond mental health and wellbeing.
The Bill includes changes that respond to the Independent Review of the VPS led by Helen Silver (the Silver Review).
The Commission provides the following comments regarding the potential impact of the proposed changes to the MHW Act, focusing on the changes that we believe most directly affect people with lived experience of mental ill-health or psychological distress, their families, carers, supporters and kin.
Why are we commenting?
The Commission offers these comments because the introduction of a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System (the Royal Commission) (recommendation 42). The Commission’s objectives, which are set out in section 41 of the MHW Act, include ensuring the government is accountable for the performance, quality and safety of the mental health and wellbeing system, including the implementation of recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System (our emphasis).
The Commission’s objectives also include supporting and promoting the leadership and participation of people living with mental illness or psychological distress in decision-making about policies and programs, including those that directly affect them.
We consider that commenting on proposed amendments to the MHW Act is within the Commission’s remit, particularly amendments that appear to be at odds with recommendations of the Royal Commission and/or reduce the leadership opportunities afforded people with mental illness or psychological distress.
We welcome public, open discussion about these proposed changes, including with people with lived and living experience of mental ill-health, their families, carers, supporters and kin, prior to their introduction.
Proposed changes affecting the Commission
The proposed changes that affect the Commission relate to the governance structure and functions of the Commission. These changes are set out in Division 2 of Part 8 of the Bill.
The Commission’s governance structure
The Royal Commission found that Victoria’s mental health system was not adequately meeting the needs of the community and that significant transformation was needed. The Royal Commission’s Final Report identified the importance of understanding – and changing - a system’s power dynamics for real change to occur and be sustained. The Final Report made repeated reference to the need to empower consumers of mental health services, their families, carers, supporters and kin, if Victoria’s mental health system was to be transformed in the way envisaged by the Royal Commission.
The Commission’s governance model set out in the MHW Act reflects the collaborative, power sharing model of leadership described by the Royal Commission. It does this through the appointment of four Commissioners, which must include at least one Commissioner with Lived Experience as a Consumer and at least one Commissioner with Lived Experience as a Carer, who make Commission decisions together by majority vote.
This accords with Recommendation 44(2) of the Final Report of the Royal Commission, which recommended that the new Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission be led by a Chair Commissioner who is supported by a small group of Commissioners; and includes at least one Commissioner with lived experience of mental illness or psychological distress and one Commissioner with lived experience as a family member or carer.
The proposed changes alter the governance of the Commission from a four Commissioner model to a single Commissioner model. Significantly, the single Commissioner will not require direct lived experience of mental illness or psychological distress as a consumer or carer.
Instead, they will be required to ‘have an understanding’ of a number of matters, including the diverse needs of Aboriginal communities, the importance of self-determination, the importance of connection to culture, family, community and Country and the importance of culturally responsive, safe and appropriate services; and the diverse backgrounds and needs of persons using mental health and wellbeing services in Victoria, including age, disability, neurodiversity, culture, language, communication, religion, race, gender identity and sexual orientation.
This moves away from the governance model outlined by the Royal Commission and does not reflect sharing of power with or promoting the leadership and participation of people living with mental Illness or psychological distress, or of their families, carers, supporters and kin.
Strategic priorities
The Bill states that the Minister may issue a statement of expectations to the Commission, which will set out strategic priorities for the Commission in relation to the mental health and wellbeing system; identify any opportunities for improvement in the performance of the Commission’s functions or the exercise of its powers; and identify any emerging risks to the mental health and wellbeing system.
Scope of the Commission’s functions
The Bill also proposes changes that will impact on the scope of the Commission’s functions and ability to exercise these.
The sections and sub-sections of the MHW Act that the Bill proposes to change[1] will restrict the oversight role of the Commission, specifically in relation to monitoring and reporting, and providing advice and reporting to the Parliament on the performance, quality and safety of the mental health and wellbeing system.
The Bill proposes changes that limit the exercise of these functions to activities occurring ‘in the course of the Commission dealing with complaints or conducting investigations, inquiries or complaint data reviews’.
These functions are currently not limited, meaning they can be exercised in the course of any of the Commission’s functions and activities.
For example, section 415(h) allows the Commission to monitor and report on the performance, quality and safety of the mental health and wellbeing system which includes some specified focus areas but is not limited to them. The proposed changes mean the Commission will only be able to monitor and report on the performance, quality and safety of the mental health and wellbeing system in the course of dealing with complaints or conducting investigations, inquiries or complaint data reviews.
The Commission retains the power to undertake own initiative investigations[2], which means it does not move completely to only providing reactive oversight. The MHW Act does limit the types of systemic issues that the Commission may investigate through this type of investigation, therefore overall, the proposed changes in the Bill limit the extent to which the Commission can proactively explore systemic issues facing the mental health and wellbeing system.
Data and information collection
Proposed amendments to section 526 of the MHW Act will restrict the Commission to collecting data and information from mental health and wellbeing service providers only. The current MHW Act allows the Commission to collect data and information from service providers and ‘data sharing bodies’, which includes public service bodies, public entities and Victoria Police, and includes the Department of Health and related entities. This amendment, if passed, will restrict the ability of the Commission to monitor and report on issues of system performance, quality and safety, or on the implementation of recommendations made by the Royal Commission, unless the information is gathered directly from mental health and wellbeing service providers.
The Commission notes the Silver Review’s recommendation on pages 87 and 88 that ‘[t]he government should default to a single executive governance model for [public] entities for efficient decision-making, except where accountability and integrity needs demand collective oversight.’ The Commission believes that the Royal Commission made clear the argument for collective oversight of the Commission that included designated consumer and carer lived experience commissioners.
Proposed changes affecting the VCC
The VCC’s governance structure
The Bill proposes changes to the VCC’s governance structure. Importantly, the proposed changes reduce the requirement to include people with lived experience of mental ill-health or psychological distress at the highest levels within the organisation.
The Bill proposes changes that reduce the number of board members of the VCC from a chairperson, deputy chairperson and at least 7 to no more than 10 other members, to a chairperson and at least 4 other members, removing the role of a Deputy Chairperson.
The Bill, if passed, removes the requirement for at least 2 board members to identify as having lived or living experience of mental illness or psychological distress and for at least 2 board members to identify as having lived or living experience as a carer or supporter of someone with a mental illness or psychological distress.
The Bill would also remove the requirement for at least 1 board member to be a representative of the designated mental health service and at least 1 board member to be a representative of the academic institution with which the VCC has entered into agreements to support it to perform its functions.
The Bill proposes changes to the management structure of the VCC by moving from a co-director model to a single director model. The existing co-director model requires that one director has experience in academia in the field of mental health and experience in clinical practice as a practitioner, and one director identifies as having lived experience of mental illness or psychological distress and has demonstrated the ability to apply this experience to improve systems that deliver health or human services or to develop policy.
Conclusion
The Commission understands that Victoria is facing significant economic challenges and that options to ease the resultant constraints need to be explored.
However, the Bill, if passed, proposes changes that remove the requirement for the Commission and the VCC to include in their most senior leadership people with lived experience of mental ill-health or psychological distress, and of being a family member, supporter, carer or kin. There would also be limits to the Commission’s system oversight role.
In our view, these changes reflect a move away from the recommendations made by the Royal Commission, including recommendations that genuinely aim to share power with people who use and support those who use the mental health and wellbeing system
The Commission made an early commitment to be fearlessly independent, grounded in the expertise of people with lived experience and to be brave, fair, impartial and transparent in our work.
Therefore, as the Commissioners see the proposed changes as significant, we urge government to discuss and debate them openly, including with people with lived experience of mental ill-health or psychological distress, their families, supporters, carers and kin.
[1] The Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 sub-sections 415(h), 415(j), 415(z), 427(2)(d)), and sections 525(1) and 526(1)
[2] The Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 section 478
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