Submission – Intergenerational Housing Inequity
The submission highlights that housing insecurity can cause long-term psychological distress and make it harder for people to access care, maintain relationships, and feel safe in their community. It also explains that these impacts are passed across generations, with children growing up in housing stress more likely to experience mental health challenges later in life.
Submission – 2026 Summer fires across Victoria
We made a policy submission to the Victorian Government’s inquiry into the 2026 summer fires. Our submission explores bushfires as environmental and economic disasters, with serious and long-lasting impacts on people’s mental health and wellbeing. We recognise that rural communities, people with pre-existing disadvantage, and those recovering from earlier disasters are often the hardest hit.
Submission – NDIS Integrity
Problems with the NDIS are not just caused by a few bad providers. The current system is built like a marketplace where participants are expected to manage their own care. For many people, especially people with psychosocial disability, this creates serious risks because they may not have the support, information or power needed to stay
Submission – Inquiry into anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes
Anti-LGBTIQA+ hate crimes are a serious public health issue. Discrimination, harassment, and violence can cause trauma, stress, and social isolation for LGBTIQA+ people. Research shows that LGBTIQA+ communities experience much higher levels of psychological distress than the wider population, with hate and discrimination playing a major role. Many LGBTIQA+ Victorians have experienced discrimination because of
Membership Advisory Group: Shape VMIAC’s membership
We’re establishing a Membership Advisory Group which is a dedicated space for members to share their insights, experiences, and ideas and help shape our membership events and community. We warmly invite all members to express their interest in joining this group. Selection processWe’re aiming to select a small, diverse group of members who reflect our community. Selection
Submission to the Modernising Referral Pathways Consultation
VMIAC welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Modernising Referral Pathways Consultationand thanks the Specialist Affordability Section of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing forits consideration of this submission. Mental health consumers face significant and persistent barriers when attempting to accessspecialist care. While this consultation focuses on referral settings and administrative processes,it is important
Submission to the Inquiry into Voting Centre Accessibility
VMIAC welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry into voting centre accessibility and thanks the Electoral Matters Committee for its consideration of this submission. Access to voting for mental health consumers, including those detained in inpatient psychiatric units, has been a longstanding concern of VMIAC’s. We have raised this issue repeatedly with both the
Consumers Leading in Governance (CLIG) returns in 2026
The Consumers Leading in Governance (CLIG) Program supports lived and living experience consumer leaders to build the confidence, skills, and knowledge needed to meaningfully participate in governance and decision-making across Victoria’s mental health sector. Developed by VMIAC and first piloted in 2022, CLIG was created in response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health
New national human rights report finds widespread rights breaches
Mental health consumer peaks call for a national Human Rights Act The National Mental Health Consumer Alliance, together with State and Territory mental health consumer peak bodies, today released Australia’s first mental health consumer-led Human Rights Report — revealing systemic, widespread breaches of human rights for people living with mental health challenges and psychosocial disability
The Meaning of ‘Lived Experience’
VMIAC is proud to launch a critical new policy position: ‘The Meaning of ‘Lived Experience’. This position statement was developed in response to growing concern over the widespread co-option and dilution of lived experience language within mental health reform. As the term “Lived Experience” gains popularity across government and service sectors, its meaning is often stretched