Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Education and Employment, I wish to make a statement concerning the committee's inquiry into mental health and workforce participation.

On 3 March 2011, the Standing Committee on Education and Employment adopted terms of reference to inquire into barriers and opportunities as to enhancing the participation in education, training and the workforce of people with mental ill health. The committee have received over 40 submissions and continues to welcome submissions from employers, service providers, clients and their families, and experts in the field of mental health.

The committee have conducted site inspections in Melbourne and commenced a program of public hearings and site inspections in Melbourne and Canberra. I take this early opportunity to thank those organisations that hosted the committee and provided some very interesting oral and written evidence to the inquiry. We are seeing some creative and exciting programs helping people with mental illness to get into the workplace. The committee plan to hold further hearings in Adelaide, Whyalla, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, with other locations to be announced in due course.

There can be no disputing the fundamental role of employment in the lives of all Australians who have the capacity to undertake it. Work provides economic independence, dignity and a sense of purpose. Many people suffering from mental ill health fail to fully realise their potential because of existing barriers in place; however, they are often capable of achieving at the highest levels in their chosen fields.

The terms of reference of the inquiry focus on what can be done to support people with mental ill health to find and engage with education, training and workforce opportunities. The adequacy of services for people who are afflicted with mental ill health and find themselves on disability support payments is important, but this inquiry is about what can be done to help people avoid the disability stream and minimise impediments that keep people on disability payments in cases where they might otherwise be able to enter education, training or the workforce. This inquiry is about fostering and supporting meaningful and continued engagement with communities and education, training and workforce opportunities.

Without pre-empting the committee's report and recommendations, one important factor in minimising contact with the disability support payment system is the ability to intervene early in cases where a person suffers an episode of mental ill health. Intervention does not just refer to access to mental health support; it is about bringing in employment, training and education opportunities at an early point. An important part of our inquiry will be exploring opportunities to integrate the mental health system with education, training and employment systems. Early intervention is about how quickly someone who has suffered an episode of mental ill health can be exposed to and brought back into employment, training or education.

Another important issue in supporting people with mental ill health back into the workforce or education and training is addressing the stigma that accompanies mental illness. The committee will be looking at this issue. Stigma relates not only to the prejudices relating to mental illness held in wider society but to self-stigma, as these views are reflected back upon and sometimes eventually owned by the person who suffers mental ill health. The stigma accompanying mental illness manifests itself in, among other things, issues of disclosure.

The focus has been on employment but, as I mentioned, we are also having a focus on education and training. We have already heard evidence about the impact of an episode of mental ill health when a person is younger. It may disrupt their schooling in year 11 or year 12, an important time for getting the literacy and numeracy skills required to take on a job. That is why the committee is looking not just at employment but also at education and training, which are enablers to move people into the workforce. That will also be a focus of the committee. We are looking forward to visiting more examples of organisations that provide employment opportunities to people who suffer mental ill health.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the secretariat, who have put together a very exciting program so far. We look forward to continuing this very important work and making some recommendations that will make a difference to the lives of people with a mental health issue who are trying to access employment and education.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Deputy Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment, I rise to support the chair, the member for Kingston, in the comments she has just made to the House about our inquiry into mental health and workforce participation. We have already received a substantial number of submissions and had some hearing days. I think there is an increasing understanding, both in society and in parliament, about the impact that mental illness is having on the society as a whole and on individuals. We must put more resources in Australia into this area, but we also must find new ways to address these issues. One of the things we know is that, the longer people are out of the workforce, the more disconnected they become from society in general. I was given to reflect in this place only a couple of weeks ago that the greatest act of welfare we can do for anyone in this society is to give them a job, because we know that, if they have a job, the likelihood of better outcomes in the rest of their life is much higher. There is a higher likelihood that their children will receive better education and a better diet and that they will be better engaged in society. All these things come with the self-respect and the freedom that a job provides us with.

The fact that someone is sick and suffering from a mental illness does not necessarily mean they are permanently incapacitated and should be put aside from the workforce, although in some cases this is undoubtedly the case. Some of the evidence we have received already underlines the fact that if we could actually get people into work their mental health would become easier to manage and maintain. To do that, we need an understanding in the workforce from employers who are looking to make a workplace that is more accommodating for people and allows them to deal with these issues. We took evidence only two weeks ago from someone talking about a work program where they were offering people two days work a week but it could be in four-hour blocks, so you might elect to come in for two days at the start the week or two days at the end or you might elect to do four mornings or a couple of mornings and a couple of afternoons. We really need to foster that kind of flexibility in the workplace.

I hope we are going to find a bit of that in our inquiry as we move around Australia. The chair was very keen that we should make an attempt to visit the electorates of all the members of the committee. Because we know our own patches and we know the contacts to make, this is a good way of getting a cross-section of Australia. As I just said when I was speaking on the previous correspondence from the committee, as the only member of the committee who represents rural and regional Australia I will be very pleased to have the committee in Whyalla in two weeks time, because, as difficult as dealing with mental health is anywhere, all these things become more difficult in the country, where you are further removed from the bulk of services. Whyalla is quite a substantial city of 22,000 or 23,000 people. I have towns whose populations are only two or three people. The concept of delivering mental health and care services into communities that small is quite foreign to much of Australia, but I believe it is my role to try to bring a bit of that to the committee. I look forward to the inquiry. (Time expired)