Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the member for Cunningham. As someone who has a mother, a wife and a daughter working in public education, I too recognise Public Education Week.

This evening I would like to speak about the importance of assistance, help and recognising issues around mental health. In April I had the pleasure of officially launching and opening the headspace centre in Dubbo. Headspace is the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, and they help people aged between 12 and 25 years who are experiencing difficult times in their lives. Quite frankly, it is also a drop-in centre and a friendly, safe place for young people to drop in, chat and hang out. The staff at headspace provide an invaluable service for the young people of our communities; they give them someone to chat to when they are going through tough times. When they feel they do not have anyone they can turn to, headspace is there.

It is fundamental that we provide our children with the tools they need to recognise their emotions. It is important that we teach our children that it is okay to feel sad sometimes and that this feeling is not permanent—it is not the end of the world. I think that in the overstimulated world that we live in there sometimes is an expectation that everything should be bright and wonderful, and I think it is important that we recognise that we go through a raft of emotions and that it is not the end of the world if you are feeling sad. We need to instil hope in our future generations that they are not alone, that they are valuable members of our communities regardless of their backgrounds and that there are opportunities available for everyone.

I am grateful to have headspace operating in my electorate in Dubbo and thank them again for their efforts in supporting the future generations in that area. I also should mention that I know other areas like Moree are keen to have a headspace facility. We might have to look at an innovative way of doing that, as headspace needs to have a certain level of population to operate efficiently, but in some of those western towns the need is just as great, if not greater than elsewhere.

As part of speaking of mental health, I am also proud that there is a large component of funding for mental health and activities to help farmers who are battling the most severe drought in history in parts of my electorate and, indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, in large parts of your electorate as well. There have been some innovative programs and activities funded by the federal government in that mental health space.

But I would like to say mental health is an issue not just in drought times. I personally know farmers who have ended their lives who were not in financial difficulty. They had grass in the paddocks and mud on their boots but were suffering from depression and other things. So I think it is a little bit dangerous that we just associate mental health issues with tough times, because quite frankly it is more complex than that. Unfortunately, I have been aware of school students in my electorate and, indeed, personal school friends that I have known who have taken their lives for various reasons. So it is important that we have a focus on mental health and that we give people the tools to recognise that they may be in difficulty before it becomes too late.

Along the same lines, I am also pleased and proud of the government's attack on the problem of drugs and particularly ice in western New South Wales. I had the pleasure of having Senator Fiona Nash lead a community consultation last week in Dubbo and talk to people who have real experiences in that area. Mental health trauma is a serious side effect of people who are using illicit substances, and this task force will look at some of those issues as well.

In closing, I also would like to acknowledge that the government has funded the Moree drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. Seeing that open after it has been closed—those 18 beds for rehabilitation in the Moree area will be much needed and, when that gets into full swing, will be much rewarded.