Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Congratulations on your appointment, Mr Deputy Speaker Hogan. Australians for Mental Health represents four million Australians suffering from poor mental health, and their family and friends. This week they have called for a new national mental health culture of timely, high-quality care for all Australians. A grassroots approach to delivering mental health reform is not new to my electorate of Indi. A predecessor was a campaign to win a headspace centre for young people on the border of north-east Victoria. Reform will involve community and government leadership.

A recently announced Senate inquiry into access to mental health services in regional and remote Australia asks why rural Australians access mental health services at such a low rate. The inquiry will make recommendations to improve the delivery of mental health services in regional areas. I encourage all individuals, organisations and mental health professionals to make submissions before the closing date of 11 May.

In closing I acknowledge and welcome to Canberra the members of this year's Alpine Valleys Community Leadership Program—so gorgeously displayed here. I encourage you to understand what can be achieved when local leaders stand up and act on important issues in their community. If you take one message from this meeting in Canberra, it should be that leadership is not an optional extra. We need you to stand up and do what's right, and if you could do it around mental health, I'd be really pleased. (Time expired)

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