Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday I caught up with some of Casey's youth as part of our campaign for a headspace centre at the Fountain Gate shopping centre precinct in my electorate of Holt. The Australian government's headspace program has been a wonderful program which is helping young people aged 12 to 25, who are going through a tough time, providing support for problems like depression, anxiety, bullying and body image issues. Headspace Chief Executive Officer, Chris Tanti, is overseeing the rollout of 55 centres across Australia, so far, as well as setting up additional programs that include eheadspace, that offers an online and telephone counselling service, and headspace school support which offers a post-intervention program for secondary schools across Australia

According to headspace, 92 per cent of young people have reported improvements in their mental health after using the headspace service. Once all of the 90 sites are fully established, headspace will help up to 72,000 young Australians each year.

Last month I had the pleasure of joining my parliamentary colleagues the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler; the member for Bruce, Alan Griffin; and Laura Smyth. We were at the official opening of Dandenong headspace, which is run by a great group of staff headed by Liz Rowe. Dandenong headspace was the 17th headspace to be established in Victoria. However, additional services are needed in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne—in particular in the city of Casey. Over recent years, the city of Casey's population has grown quickly but essential services have not kept up with the population growth, especially with the growth in Casey's young population, which totals approximately 60,000 young people, with 23,800 young people attending primary school and 20,000 young people attending secondary school. Our youth in Casey have a bright future. However, when they go through difficult times during their lives, particularly during their young lives, they have a right—and they deserve—to have the appropriate services provided by federal, state and local governments. We need to work together to ensure that the interests of young people living in the outer suburbs are not forgotten and that much-needed services like a youth-friendly headspace centre are delivered, especially when 60,000 young people in my local area do not have direct access to an essential service like headspace.

So last Friday I caught up with young people including Dani Rothwell, Amanda Carron, Jake Downward, Hayden Devanny and members of the Stream for Life group including Madison Moore, Matthew Kelaard and Sarah Ardiente to come together to campaign for a headspace at the Fountain Gate precinct. Each of these young people has been directly affected by friends that have gone through difficult times and in some cases have actually taken their own lives. Last year young people like Dani Rothwell approached me to express their concerns about the extent of the mental health challenges facing our young population in Casey. As a result I convened a summit that over 300 people attended. What we continue to need to do, particularly in the Casey area, is campaign to destigmatise mental health issues and to promote young people accessing those services without the stigma and fear that is attracted when people access these services. Since the summit I have met with a range of local community groups such as Orygen Youth Health, Beehive, Spiritworx, Motov8, Casey City Church, Angel Light Link, the Coming Together to Prevent Youth Suicide group and Stream for Life, to name a few. Each group wants to help our young people going through difficult times. I want to congratulate the groups on their efforts and let them know that we will be doing what we can together to work for a local headspace in the Fountain Gate precinct.

We know that one in four young people experiences a mental health issue each year, making it basically the single biggest issue facing young Australians. However—and this is important—three-quarters of these people are not receiving the professional help they need because of lack of access to a youth-specific mental health service or because they do not know who to turn to. This is why I have sought to campaign in my electorate of Holt for a headspace in Fountain Gate where young people can come together. The city of Casey, as I have said, is a unique area. It is an area of extensive growth, but the growth has not been underpinned by the social services that are needed. Headspace is one essential social service that we need as part of our local social infrastructure. Our young people deserve this. They cannot be defined by postcode. They need this. They want this. It is up to us to deliver it.