Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

One of the things we've had bipartisanship on in this place has been suicide prevention. I want to talk about the serious subject of mental health and suicide prevention, and I want to put on record that Labor is committed to supporting measures that support those Australians who are living with mental ill health. We have had bipartisanship on this from the government in the past. Since the minister has come into the Health portfolio, there has been a distinct pattern of copying some of Labor's policies, which is fine because we obviously are very proud of our policies. Prior to the last election, we announced our mental health commitment on 20 June 2016, and the government announced its policy just six days later, in relation to suicide prevention trial sites. But the government committed to only eight sites. It was very good that, when the minister was first given responsibility for mental health, he funded another four suicide prevention trial sites, to bring it up to the 12 trial sites that Labor first proposed. Indeed, we welcomed this at the time, because it is good policy to have more trial sites.

As the government began rolling out the suicide prevention trial sites, it became very clear that the PHNs on the ground needed more time to implement the suicide prevention trial sites. Having been briefed on some of them and having met with some of the consultation groups, providers and consumers around the country, it became very clear to me that they were not able to deliver on-ground services until the last 12 months or so and that the suicide prevention trial sites would need to be extended for a further period of time, to allow proper evidence and data collection so that we could get the best data out of them to try to reduce suicide in this country. I wrote to the minister on three separate occasions requesting that the trial sites be extended. I publicly called on the minister, on numerous occasions, to do this, particularly for those trial sites that are being run in rural and regional Australia. I had great concerns that a lot of the money was going into administration rather than into on-ground services. We didn't see anything in the budget, and I was concerned about that and I raised that. I was pleased to see that the media release from the minister six days after the budget actually said that the suicide prevention trial sites are now to be extended. So I've got some questions for the minister around that.

I'm particularly interested to know whether or not the PHNs contacted the government and the minister about the suicide prevention trial site period; whether they requested an extension; how long an extension they requested versus how long they've actually been given; and whether or not there are any additional funds, particularly for the rural and regional suicide prevention trial sites, where they have spent a lot of money on administration and getting to the point, and they've got fewer on-ground services. I know that six Labor members and senators wrote to the minister—it came out of estimates—about the suicide prevention trial extension sites in their seats. People from both sides of parliament have taken great interest in this in their local areas because they are concerned to make sure that we get the very best possible evidence and data from these trial sites.

I'm keen to know when the minister actually made the decision to extend the suicide prevention trial sites, why it wasn't included in the budget and why we received notification six days after the budget that this was being extended. And, as I said, I would like to know about any additional money that's going to specific trial sites and what sites are going to get the additional money. I'm particularly concerned, as I said, about some of the trial sites in rural and regional Australia, such as the Kimberley trial site, because I know that they did spend a fair amount of their $3 million through the PHN on holding meetings and consultations and getting everything together in terms of the plan. I wonder if the minister could also let me know exactly when he expects to receive some of the initial reports from Black Dog Institute, who are doing some of the evaluations of the trial sites, whether those evaluations are going to be made public and whether we can receive a briefing on those valuations when they come through so that we know what is happening on the ground in the suicide prevention trial sites, because in this place we're all really concerned to make sure that this works.

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