Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing and Minister for Social Inclusion. On World Mental Health Day we reflect on the fact that good mental health in our community is founded on respecting and caring for and valuing our fellow Australians. Will the minister advise the House of the progress that the government has made in reforming the mental health sector?

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the new Second Deputy Speaker for his important question. It is important because mental illness is still the single largest cause of disability in Australia. One in five Australians will live with mental illness this year, and one in three will experience it at some point in their life. But we know that, with the right supports, those Australians can recover—if not always permanently and completely then certainly to the point of being able to live contributing lives in our community.

As the Second Deputy Speaker has said, today is World Mental Health Day; and, I acknowledge, it is the first ADF Mental Health Day being commemorated in our defence and veterans communities. These are occasions to reflect on whether we all are giving enough supports to the millions of Australians living with mental illness.

Most importantly as governments, we reflect on the degree to which we are providing services that reflect people's needs, to make sure that they are properly coordinated, particularly for the most severely unwell in our community, which is the objective of the new Partners in Recovery program; on the degree to which we are making sure they are well targeted to young people, where most disorders emerge, hence our focus on expanding services like KidsMatter, headspace and early psychosis centres; and on the degree to make sure they are available in a range of forms, including online. Today I have announced a three-year, $16 million agreement with Access Macquarie to operate a virtual clinic attached to the mental health online portal, mindhealthconnect, which will give virtual online support to people needing counselling services, building on the 24/7 clinic already available to young Australians through eHeadspace.

But perhaps the more challenging question to reflect on is how we continue to draw down the stigma associated with mental illness, how we get to a point where people feel as comfortable talking about mental illness as they feel talking about kidney disease or a crook knee. And although we still have a long way to go, we should recognise that we have made significant progress as a nation in recent years in reducing the stigma of mental illness. I must say that has largely been through the extraordinary courage that people who live with mental illness have shown, whether as consumers or carers publicly talking about their experiences—people like Jessica Rowe, who gave a public lecture last night here in Canberra about her battle with postnatal depression, a lecture that I suspect we all wish we were able to attend, and not only to show Jessica our support.

We should also recognise that leadership from this place across political lines has also been enormously influential in lifting the profile of mental health. But on this day of all days it is important that we remember that that leadership also involves us demonstrating how to prosecute points of difference forcefully while also respecting the dignity and the occasional vulnerability that we all have as human beings. (Time expired)

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. Further to the update on Defence mental health, can the minister update the House on the important work the government is doing in reforming the treatment and management of mental health in the ADF?

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, I thank the new Second Deputy Speaker for his question. We have seen extraordinary public coverage over recent months about the mental health issues that are associated with the service that our ADF personnel give to our country, whether that is service here in Australia or, particularly, service overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and other theatres of conflict or peacekeeping. This is not a new issue. Previous generations associated with conflicts like World War I, World War II, Vietnam most notably, but many others as well, have experienced mental health issues that in those days went by many different names, whether it was shell shock or, more recently, post-traumatic stress disorder.

As I indicated in my last answer, this week saw the inaugural ADF Mental Health Day, which coincides with today's World Mental Health Day on 10 October. The day highlights the extraordinary work that is being done to ensure that members of the ADF are in top condition mentally and also breaks down the stigma that we continue to see within the ADF about mental health issues, as we see in other areas of our community. The government, the defence community and DVA are committed to ensuring that mental health care is available and is taken up, most importantly, by past and present members of the defence community as well as by our veterans. Early identification of those issues is incredibly important, and it finally gets the recognition it deserves with this inaugural day.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.