Portents from Orwell’s 1984: Bureaucracies, Ministries of Truth and Plenty – challenges facing the administration of mental healthcare in Australia

Objective: We reflect upon the processes of mental health administration in Australia with reference to George Orwell’s novel, 1984. Conclusions: Mental healthcare in Australia is distorted by politicisation, spin and a refusal to acknowledge the reality of the current situation. These challenges for mental healthcare demonstrate some similarities with the Ministries of Truth and Plenty, which conversely performed as their opposites in Orwell’s novel. Psychiatrists and their professional bodies should play a greater role in advocacy for clinician-led, evidence-based services in partnership with our communities.