The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of private psychiatry, which responded to the crisis with expanded outpatient/telehealth practice and ongoing private hospital care, complementary to public sector care. Despite the significance of the private sector, it has been largely overlooked in recent reports from the Productivity Commission, the Royal Commission into Victorian Mental Health Services and the Fifth National Mental Health Plan. We highlight research findings that demonstrate the scope and resilience of the private sector in meeting the challenge of the pandemic, as well as previous private–public sector collaborative initiatives that could be revivified.