Experts and advocates are hoping that 2015 will bring a renewed focus on mental health from the Abbott Government.

John Mendoza - former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's top mental health adviser – has told reporters that the Government should move on reports from its own mental health advisory group before the May budget.

“This year is very much a litmus test for Tony Abbott's Government in relation to mental health,” Mendoza told ABC Radio.

“Tony Abbott made much of the Rudd government's failure to continue the reforms that were led by Morris Iemma and John Howard in particular, really getting mental health reform on the COAG agenda.

“He took a strong stance in opposition, he really put up the proposal of a National Mental Health Commission back in 2011, but since the Abbott Government's been in power, we've seen very little or nothing in relation to, I guess following through on those commitments that were made in opposition.

“The second reason it's a litmus test is that he has two crucial reports on the table from the National Mental Health Commission and from the McClure investigation or inquiry in welfare.

“Both of those have profound implications for how the Government really starts to address the continuing crisis in mental health care across the country,” he said.

The former government insider said the current LNP Government should do let the community see a recent review by the National Mental Health Commission.

“I think it's regrettable at this stage that the Government's chosen to keep it in Canberra,” he said.

In addition, he said, there are two fundamental areas that the Government can address quickly.

“One, it has to sit down with the states and territories and work out who does what,” Mendoza said.

“At the moment it is a dog's breakfast - to put it positively - as to who delivers what.

“We've got to get a clear line of sight from the funding authorities through to the providers.”

He said that the second area requiring renewed focus is the area of innovation.

“It's pretty clear that, as we go forward into the rest of this decade, our governments, state and federal, are going to have pretty serious constraints in terms of revenue, and that means innovation has to be at the forefront,” Mr Mendoza said.

“We can no longer do business as usual.

“We know that people are taking more interest in and more capability in self-care and we need to promote ways of building the capacity of people with mental illnesses to self-care and self-manage and there are already many many easily accessible and affordable approaches that can be supported by government there.

“And this extends into the area of e-therapy where, at the moment, if a doctor refers someone with a mental health problem, they generally refer them to face to face counselling with a psychologist or clinical psychologist.

“I would recommend that, for many cases, they could be best treated through e-therapy with the possibility of elevating a level of care to a face to face condition.”