Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to begin by acknowledging my friend the member for Fisher, not just for moving this motion but for his friendship and his leadership of the Parliamentary Friends of Mental Health in this place. I want to acknowledge the broader Wallace family for sharing the story of the member for Fisher's beautiful daughter Caroline and her struggles with mental illness over the years. The member for Fisher has not just been an advocate; he has been a person who has got results in this space. I particularly think of the wonderful research work that the Thompson Institute is doing into eating disorders as a great example of one of the many things that he has done and achieved in this space while he has served in this place.

COVID-19 has brought the focus of mental health and suicide prevention to the fore like never before. We've seen in Victoria in recent days the reports of the 31 per cent increase in presentations to mental health services as a result of the continuation of the stage 4 lockdowns. We have seen the renewed focus of mental health activities in Indigenous communities, particularly after that spate of suicides in the Kimberley. With the member for Herbert present in the chamber I also want to acknowledge the renewed focus on veterans' mental health and suicide that he has spearheaded. The situation caused by COVID-19 has reminded people that mental health isn't an issue for someone else; it's an issue for almost all of us as parliamentarians, but certainly an issue for almost all of us in our own families.

I want to acknowledge what the government has done in the present budget with the addition of $5.7 billion, record funding, for mental health and suicide prevention. One of the most important aspects of this funding has been the doubling of the number of Medicare funded consultations for people who need psychological or psychosocial supports. This is so important, because only 10 consultations a year, less than one a month, was never enough for somebody who had, certainly acute mental health issues, but even more mild mental health issues. Having access to 20 really provides people with major support. I think we will see that as a game changer.

I want to acknowledge that the government is due at some point to release the Productivity Commission's final report into mental health and suicide prevention and to put forward its response to that. The government also has a zero suicides target. This is a very ambitious target, I don't think we have a more ambitious social policy target than the target for zero suicides. But as the Prime Minister said to me when I asked him about this, 'Life is valuable. How could we have any other target than zero?' He is quite correct on that.

In my remaining time today I want to speak about something that was raised in the draft report of the Productivity Commission. That is the issue of aftercare. We know that if you have attempted to take your own life, you are more likely than any other person in our community to attempt again. The sad fact is that people who have made an attempt—we know very often who these people are, where they live and how they've come, particularly if they've come into contact with hospital services and medical services. Yet in most states there is inadequate aftercare provided. The government two years ago expanded Beyond Blue's Way Back program and gave $10½ million to that program to ensure that people who had been admitted to a mental health facility did actually have in some places that extra support and aftercare. If you break your leg or your hip and you go in for surgery, you go to rehabilitation afterwards. It should be no different for mental health.

My quibble with the Productivity Commission's draft report is that they say that adequate after-care along the lines of a further expansion of the Way Back program will only reduce the attempt rate by about 19.8 per cent and will only reduce the death rate by about 1.1 per cent. I just cannot believe that those figures can be correct, given that we know the group of people and we know that if we put in place adequate support we are more likely to be able to help them on. As mentioned by the member for Warringah, if the social and psychological and health supports are supported by campaigns like Better Off With You that destigmatise and ask people who have contemplated suicide and attempted suicide to reconsider that the world is better off with you, I think that suite of measures together can help us reduce the suicide rate in this country.

So again I want to commend the member for Fisher and all members who spoke on this very important motion today and to acknowledge the very important day that is World Mental Health Day.

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