We are currently in the midst of an important national conversation about productivity and the inhibitors to growth ahead of the government’s Economic Reform Roundtable next week.

The Prime Minister and Treasurer deserve much credit for putting the spotlight on ideas to propel Australia into a new era of prosperity so early in their new term.

Some big and overdue questions are being asked: are our tax codes and regulatory regimes too burdensome and holding back innovation? How should the $4 trillion in superannuation capital be best deployed? How can we harness the power of AI to boost productivity with minimal harm to society?

But, disturbingly, mental health has been overlooked as part of the conversation.

Untreated mental ill-health is holding Australia back and costing the economy up to $220 billion each year, according to estimates from the Productivity Commission.

Divided across every Australian, that’s essentially a lost opportunity of $8800. Every single year.

What’s worse, millions of Australians are enduring needless personal distress and experiencing avoidable financial hardship. Research from the Council of Australian Life Insurers has shown total and permanent life insurance claims for mental health among people in their 30s has increased by 732 per cent over the past decade.

Mental health injuries in workplaces place pressure on workers, their families and the businesses that employ them and results in Australians leaving the workforce for good.

Some 43 per cent of Australians will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. Statistically speaking, that means almost half the people you know will have some mental health issue.

Mental ill-health is one of the leading causes of temporary and permanent disability for workers aged under 30 and two out of every five young person is now impacted by mental health challenges.

I was proud to add my name to an open letter on behalf of Australians For Mental Health to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, in the hope this will be taken into consideration ahead of next week’s roundtable.

Conexus Financial has long supported Australians for Mental Health, a wonderful organisation in our community, and has agitated to put mental health on the news and thought leadership agenda within the financial services industry.

Now, we want to see mental health be rightly acknowledged as not just a social and health crisis, but an economic matter of utmost national importance.

This government already has a positive track record more broadly in this policy sphere, having committed $1 billion during the election to fund mental health supports in our communities. Getting this funding rolling out as quickly as possible will help to provide more Australians with much-needed access to mental health care.

We need a whole-of-government response to the mental health crisis that includes developing national mental health targets, guarantee Australians equitable access to timely treatment and support and invest in training to boost the amount of mental health professionals in the country.

A healthy society is a productive one.