Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no more powerful image that comes to mind when thinking about the issue of mental health than the one I relate here of an aged widow diagnosed with schizophrenia and manic depression, now termed bipolar disorder, lying on a tiled floor, minutes from death from self-administered injury. After the paramedics depart, the clean-up begins: the bathroom, the razor, the bedroom, the stairs—and the lives of the family.

Mental health disorders should never end with this picture. It is time for each and every one of us to stop talking about mental health and act on the recommendations of the findings and the reports that are so prolific at this time. It is the elephant in the room that will affect one in five Australians this year. The New South Wales Mental Health Commission report establishes that with early intervention when a problem first develops, sometimes in young children, effective outcomes achieved.

There are around one million adults living with depression across Australia. Even more shockingly, there are almost 200,000 young people living with this terrible condition in 2014. One in four Australians suffer from some form of anxiety. Despite this, anxiety is still stigmatised in our community. I know that services like Headspace in Nowra are working hard every day to try and address some of these stigmas and the consequences that come with them. The results that I see coming from our local Headspace are very, very impressive.

It is no secret that one of my biggest wishes for our region would be for the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Medicare Local, as it has been known, to extend funds to establish a Headspace service further down the coast in Ulladulla. While Headspace has a fantastic outreach program, regularly visiting local schools and youth groups, there is only so much a Nowra based mental health service can do when it comes to servicing the youth of Milton, Ulladulla, Sussex Inlet and all of the small towns and villages in between.

I welcome the announcement by Minister for Health Peter Dutton that the government is considering merging the 17 Medicare Locals across New South Wales into nine Primary Health Networks, as the proposed Primary Health Network covering my electorate will extend quite far. However, this means that larger resources and a better regional vision need to be put in place. I and other mental health facilitators, workers and providers will be putting in a maximum effort to ensure that mental health services are not limited to the large town centres. In many regional areas we have very qualified professionals ready, willing and able to give their expertise locally rather than having travel as part of the budget allocation. Mental health is a significant issue for my electorate.

We have passionate advocates like Jon Strang, Wendi Hobbs, Dean Naylor-Clarke, Donna Corbyn, Maria Mitchell and countless others assisting as carers and mentors. One of my passions is to make sure that access to good mental health services in regional areas of New South Wales like Gilmore are just as accessible for someone living in Ulladulla or Jamberoo as they are for a city resident and that young people, veterans and victims of domestic violence all get the very essential mental health care and guidance they need so their families never see the image that I spoke of earlier.