Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge in the gallery today a couple of local champions from community, Tilly and Bev, who have come here from Logan City. Today we are wearing green wristbands because it is the first National headspace Day, and it give us the opportunity to talk about the work headspace does with young people in our communities—in my case, in Meadowbrook. I have spent a fair bit of time there with so many wonderfully committed and dedicated community-minded people. The last time I was there was the night before the election, at a hip-hop performance they hosted for local Aboriginal youth.

Here in the people's house, I want to thank, acknowledge and celebrate the work that headspace do. The numbers are extraordinary: 260,000 young people helped nationally over 10 years; something like 1.5 million services provided; and approximately 7,500 people in my own community alone. But this is about more than numbers; it is about a safe and welcoming place for people under psychological stress to go to. It is about people who can help—people not just with good qualifications but people with big hearts as well.

Everyone here has some experience of or connection to a young person experiencing difficulties with mental health issues. On behalf of them and on behalf of us, on National headspace Day, we pay tribute to the work that they do at Meadowbrook and in all of our communities right around the country to improve, to shape and even to save young lives.

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