The Royal Flying Doctor Service is warning there is a mental health crisis in rural and remote parts of the country.
The service's chief executive Martin Laverty says five times as many people in cities are accessing mental health services compared to those in remote Australia.
"If that's not a crisis, I don't know what a crisis is," Mr Laverty told ABC radio on Monday.
The service provided mental health counselling to 24,500 people last year.
"The Flying Doctors, in the last 12 months treated 24,500 people in our mental health service, just part of the 350,000 people we saw. We know that we could almost triple our mental health services and that perhaps wouldn't even touch the surface," he added.
Health Minister Greg Hunt acknowledges there is a "very significant challenge" with providing mental health care in the regions.
He said the government is working to provide additional services in the area such as rural Headspace, telehealth and online services.
"Because no matter where you are, in the middle of the night, if it's 3am and there is a dark, dark moment you need to be able to speak to somebody or you need to get help," he said.
Efforts are also being made over coming months to create a program of incentives to encourage more medical workers to move to the bush.
National Rural Health Alliance CEO Mark Diamond said Australia's mental health workforce was "unevenly distributed".
"Certainly in the case of general practitioners, but the specialist mental health workforce in particular, where you have psychologists, social workers and a range of other allied health professions that are under-represented the further you get away from the major metropolitan centres," he said.
Labor called on the government to prioritise greater funding for mental health services in the lead-up to the budget.
"Mental health services need more than lip-service from Malcolm Turnbull and his government," the party's mental health spokeswoman Julie Collins said.
One in five Australians between 16 and 85 will experience a mental health disorder at some stage, no matter where they live.
But the suicide rate is much higher in the bush.
In major cities, it's 9.9 people per 100,000, rising to 19.6 people in remote areas.
It rises again to 22.3 people per 100,000, in very remote areas.
The Federal Government recently announced more than $100 million in funding for youth mental health service Headspace, and another $9 million for improving telehealth in regional areas.
Mental Health Australia's CEO Frank Quinlan said the strategy needs thorough planning.
"I think what we need across rural and remote areas, in particular, is a much more thought out workforce strategy, so that we can develop the sorts of programs and initiatives that will attract a workforce, appropriately trained, to rural and remote areas, and will retain them in those areas over time."
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
- Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.
- MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78.
- Multicultural Mental Health Australia www.mmha.org.au.
- Local Aboriginal Medical Service details available from www.bettertoknow.org.au/AMS
- with additional reporting from SBS News
