A comprehensive mental health service for youth in Western Australia, proposed by the Mental Health Commission in late 2010, has been scrapped, leaving at-risk young people on their own. The proposed service, for youth aged 16 to 24 years, was based on a Victorian model, where "one-stop shops" would have been available throughout WA to help young people access treatment. 

According to Mental Health Minister Helen Morton, the project was scrapped based on announcements by the federal government that "substantial youth services funding" will be provided to all states. However, those critical of the WA Government's choice to halt the new project say that this mental health service, which would have depended on an annual $20 million infusion over 3 years from the Royalties for Regions Fund, would have been operational by the end of 2011, while federal government funding is still only in the "discussion phase," and it will take at least another year before federal funds start to flow.

The spokeswoman for Federal Mental Health Minister Mark Butler says the Gillard Government "expects states to continue to invest in improving their own mental health systems."  Nevertheless, in WA, where the rate of mental health issues among young people is higher than the national average, the state government has chosen to leave these young people stranded for longer.