Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

TOSH () (): I was talking to the member for Kooyong about young people, in particular young women, and the sorts of pressures they had during COVID. I've seen in my portfolio in mental health young women struggling quite significantly. This brings me to one young woman in my community, Emily Smith. I met her at the 35th anniversary of Emu Plains Lions Club. She was presented with a very special 100-year celebration coin for her dedication to our community and, in particular, work that she has done in youth mental health. She is a young woman who has gone through her own mental health struggles, and in my conversations with her we've talked about the significant impacts on young people during COVID.

I think over the next few years we'll see this play out more and more. The member for Kooyong and I were just talking about the reduction in the number of young women playing sports as an impact of this. I really think we need to investigate this further. Young people play such an important role in all our electorates. But for today I would like to congratulate Emily. I was in awe of the work she's done and every conversation with her. I'm just really proud that she's a young woman in my community of Lindsay.

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