Dietitians Australia has scored the major parties on their election priorities, with both the LNP and Labor not demonstrating a commitment to affordable food and nutrition for Australia’s most vulnerable.

Access to affordable nutritional support for people with mental illness and disability via Medicare, as well as mandatory reporting measures to protect older Australians in aged care, are not priorities for Australia’s major parties.

We asked the Liberal National Party, the Australian Labor Party and the Greens to complete an election scorecard, rating their commitments to our five federal election requests.

Dietitians Australia has provided feedback to the Queensland Government’s Mental Health Select Committee about opportunities to improve the mental health of Queenslanders.

Our role statement defines the role of an APD when working in the area of mental health.

Released July 2018 - Access to healthy food and nutrition care is important for the health care of people with mental disorders. Our submission proposes and gives evidence for Better Access MBS items to include Accredited Practising Dietitians (APDs).

Released May 2019 - We support the expansion of access to health services for people with mental health disorders, including access to APDs. Our submission is in response to the Report from the Mental Health Reference Group as part of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Taskforce Review.

Released September 2021 - Quality diet and nutrition play fundamental roles in both risk reduction and symptom alleviation in mental illness and related physical comorbidities. Dietitians Australia has submitted feedback to ACIL Allen regarding the Draft National Mental Health Workforce Strategy.

Released November 2021 - The Australian Capital Territory Primary Health Network (ACT PHN) has reviewed its previous Needs Assessments. Dietitians Australia has submitted feedback to the draft Needs Assessment as part of the community consultation.

Released March 2017 - People with mental illness can also experience poor physical health, and poor physical health can in turn be connected with poor mental health. Our joint position statement endorses dietary and exercise interventions to support physical, social and mental health benefits for people living with a mental illness.