Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to provide the House with an update on some of the things that have been happening in my electorate in relation to the very significant commitments made by this government in the area of health and particularly mental health. Last week I had a great opportunity to visit Casey Hospital with the Minister for Health and Ageing to deliver some more very good news about health services for my electorate.

Casey Hospital will benefit from a funding boost of $22.2 million as part of the federal government's national health reform measures. The funding will have a very direct and very practical effect for Casey Hospital, which is located in Melbourne's south-east growth corridor. It will deliver 30 inpatient sub-acute beds, which will have an extremely positive impact in a range of areas including rehabilitation for patients, mental health, geriatric care and palliative care. Very importantly, it will also have significant impact upon alleviating pressures facing local emergency departments.

I also had the opportunity to visit the site of the Berwick GP superclinic at the same time last week, which is now partially constructed. The federal government has committed $2.5 million to that project, which is located in the grounds of Monash University's Berwick Campus. The superclinic will mean that additional primary care services are available for local residents and certainly reinforces this government's focus on primary care in localities such as mine. It will also have a focus on chronic disease treatment in respect of diabetes.

The new beds at Casey are particularly important in the southern growth corridor, where the population is increasing, as will the Berwick superclinic, when it is finally finished. We know that the population increase requires additional health services and I am very pleased to be part of a government which has so comprehensively responded to that in its last two terms and particularly in the latest federal budget. On a similarly positive note, last week I also had an opportunity to visit the MadCap Cafe, which is near the border of my electorate, together with the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. MadCap Cafe is a relatively new business venture and it is operated by the Eastern Ranges Mental Health Association. It provides a safe, flexible and understanding work environment for people with mental illness. I and the minister both learned about the training program that they run and the prospects for those who have gone through that training. Many of the trainees go on to take up paid work in other cafes or very valuable voluntary work in our community. MadCap does fantastic work to support local people who are experiencing mental health problems. It also has its eye firmly on issues of corporate social responsibility and supports fair trade. The minister and I had an opportunity to speak to the operator of the business and to its staff about the commitments made in the federal budget to boost community mental health services by over $269 million, a very significant amount of funding for a very significant project. (Time expired)