Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is the last chance I'm going to have before budget week to plead with this government to put a headspace in the Hawkesbury. Every budget I have hoped the government would listen to the thousands of people who have said, 'We want a place where our kids can go to get help for their mental health.' Every budget where there has been investment in mental health I have scoured the papers for a mention of the Hawkesbury, and every budget I am disappointed. More than that, every budget the Morrison government shows the contempt it has for the people of the Hawkesbury—that they, for some reason, don't deserve the access to early intervention and help that other communities get. Lithgow gets it. The Blue Mountains gets it. Penrith gets it. But the Hawkesbury is completely and maybe deliberately ignored.

I don't care if announcements on a Hawkesbury headspace come coincidentally within weeks of an election. I will be welcoming it; in fact I will probably be crying with joy. Right now there are kids and families going without the support they need, and there are families dealing with grief and loss because the mental health needs of the Hawkesbury have been ignored by the Liberals. A headspace won't be the answer for all of them, but, finally, we can have a start, so that we can build on it, and all young people can access the mental health support that they deserve.

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