A leading mental health policy consultant has criticised a Federal Government plan to create eight walk-in mental health centres for adults, arguing they will repeat the problems of Headspace.

In the April budget, the government announced plans to spend $114.5 million from 2020on a trial of eight mental health facilities for adults across the country.

Minister for Health Greg Hunt says the centres will be a “comprehensive one-stop shop” for mental health support, although there is scant information as to what they will look like in practice.

But Professor John Mendoza, a former chair of the government’s National Advisory Council on Mental Health, says he has seen enough to know the centres are a “really bad idea”.