Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank this government for investing an additional $23½ million into the health of the people of Petrie. It certainly is important to them. Support for mental health services is a priority in my area. It comes up in some of the most raw conversations that I have when I am communicating with locals. Too many people feel desperate—they feel hopeless, and at their most helpless right when they need that help the most. Intentional self-harm and suicide are overrepresented in a number of statistical divisions in Petrie. So not only is it an issue that impacts the people of Petrie, but it is also one that is immensely important to me, personally.

On 26 June 2016, the coalition government committed $192 million over four years to strengthen mental health care in Australia, with a focus on new models and better support for young people and those young people who are most at risk of suicide. Redcliffe Area Youth Space has been around for almost 20 years and has become core to the group of volunteers and organisations that guard the health of our community. As result of this latest investment from the federal government, RAYS Executive Manager Amy Mayes, whom I contacted this morning, said the centre would open its first clinical service. The program's lead agency, she said, would now put another 10 staff on the ground throughout the region, including at the Deception Bay community youth program. The funding will also see a suicide prevention trial and a community-based follow-up service in the Redcliffe region for people who have recently attempted suicide or who are at a high risk of suicide.

Mental Illness Fellowship Queensland has been appointed as a community partner that will develop and deliver the program in collaboration with the Brisbane North Primary Health Network and also the Redcliffe Hospital. The purpose is to provide a short-term transitional service, with follow-up support, short-term counselling and case coordination for people who have recently attempted suicide or who are at risk.

Suicide and intentional self-harm, and mental illness as a whole, do not discriminate. There but for the grace of God go I—and it could easily be any one of us. As a community, I think we are learning. We are finding our voice and opening up about the impact and nature of mental health issues, and we keep putting one foot in front of the other. I welcome this funding announcement and thank, in advance, all those throughout Petrie who work to tend to our loved ones with great care. Government, through taxpayers, can and must provide funding, but it is the carers who make the real difference, of course, in this area.

If I might, I would like to also take the time to send all strength and best wishes to Queenslanders—to those already impacted by and cleaning up after Tropical Cyclone Debbie, and to all those back at home in my electorate. The weather, at the moment, is definitely not our friend, and I know that you, as a Queenslander, Mr Deputy Speaker Vasta, understand. It is a time to be alert, employ caution and take care of ourselves and one another. Schools have been closed all day, Mr Deputy Speaker, in your electorate and mine and in the member for Hinkler's—all throughout Queensland, right down to the Tweed border—and businesses have been urged to shut up shop from around lunchtime today.

The conditions are pretty well atrocious, and the latest advice is that we have not seen the worst of today's storms. In the areas of North Lakes and Mango Hill, we already have 2,000 homes without power, flash flooding and some 60 to 70 local road closures throughout the region. There are a number of sandbag collection points and evacuation centres established in Redcliffe and throughout the Moreton Bay Regional Council area. With the most inclement conditions scheduled to strike at peak hour, I urge everyone to take it easy. And of course, remember: if it is flooded, forget it.

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