Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Let me begin with the member for Berowra—I think that is an important place to start—and then, over the next couple of answers, I will address other items raised by other members. He has been a very courageous contributor to this parliament, particularly in the space of mental health and, in particular, suicide prevention. Today is what is known as Socks4Docs Day. One of the areas within the mental health and suicide prevention space where there has been an unrecognised and unmet need is the loss of life of and mental health issues for doctors and medical professionals. In part, that is perhaps because of believing that they are okay and that, as the carer, they may not need care, or it is because of a fear of professional ramifications.

On Friday, I had the honour of speaking with the AMA at their national conference. I said that day that we would work with the AMA on a partnership for dealing with doctors. I note that today is Socks4Docs Day, and as a small contribution I am recognising and promoting that. Much more importantly, we are developing a partnership with the doctors. In particular, we are contributing a million dollars to work with the AMA, the Black Dog Institute, beyondblue and others, as well as Orygen, with the extraordinary Pat McGorry, on nursing, on the medical workforce and on the trainees as they are going through the process. That partnership will develop as we go forward.

The next thing is that on Sunday we announced, all up, $47 million for suicide prevention, for 16 different groups, plus the Caring for Carers initiative. That will allow us to take real and constructive steps. As the member for Berowra said, there are over 3,000 deaths a year through suicide, and there are many more attempts, some of which leave permanent damage. When I visited the town of Grafton not so long ago with the member for Page, Kevin Hogan, we met with one family that had suffered a suicide attempt and was living with the tragic long-term consequences in the case of their son.

We need to do more. The budget itself, in addition, has contributed $11 million for preventive activities in suicide hotspots. That includes funding for Lifeline, as well as physical barriers. In addition to that, there is $9 million towards telehealth for those in rural areas. On top of that, and perhaps most importantly, we have contributed $80 million—and we are doing this on a matched basis with the states—to deal with psychosocial services for those who will not be within the NDIS. If those services are not met, conditions can worsen, and, as those conditions worsen, the risk of people taking their own lives worsens in itself.

There was, in addition, $15 million for mental health research. The member for Fisher strongly supported and advocated for the University of the Sunshine Coast and Thompson Institute research project addressing suicide and mental health issues, particularly anxiety and depression, for young people. That was also supported by the member for Fairfax. Together, they have been strong advocates in this space. Further mental health work is being led, in terms of the workforce, by the assistant minister and, in terms of those in aged-care facilities, by the Minister for Aged Care. This package is extremely important. I particularly want to focus on this. In other answers, I will address other questions, but there is—and I note the shadow minister for mental health on the other side—a shared and bipartisan approach to mental health and suicide prevention in this place.

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