Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that mental health is a crucial area that needs attention;

(2) notes that the Government has made mental health a priority and is a key pillar of the National Long Term Health Plan with a record investment of $4.3 billion;

(3) further notes that Australians with severe mental health illness will now receive more support services in their communities following an agreement between the Australian Government and state and territory governments; and

(4) congratulates the Government for investing $160 million in the new national psychosocial support measure.

We can truly say that no federal government has ever made mental health such a central priority as this one, and that no Minister for Health has ever pursued it with such passion.

The Turnbull government's long-term national health plan set mental health as one of its foundational four pillars, and it has backed that focus with a record $4.3 billion investment this year alone. Our last two budgets included an additional $508.1 million for mental health support, treatment and research initiatives. The minister has made large-scale commitments like $125 million for the Million Minds Mission in mental health research and $110 million in additional child and youth mental health services focused on a school setting. It has also sought to innovate with projects like our rural telehealth initiative, and $11.1 million for pragmatic suicide deterrents.

I know, as you do, Madam Deputy Speaker, that many people receiving psychosocial services not covered by the NDIS have been concerned about their continuity of support. The minister acted last year with an additional $109.8 million to support community mental health programs that aren't eligible. He has worked collaboratively and decisively to further broaden the community's support by agreeing to a $160 million funding package with state and territory governments for specialised psychosocial services, like rehabilitation, vocational and social skills training, and drug and alcohol addiction support.

With the Turnbull government's substantial support, my own community of Fisher is becoming a genuine leader in Australia in the treatment of mental health conditions. We began in 2017 when, following sustained advocacy from me, Sir Angus Houston and the University of the Sunshine Coast, the Minister for Health provided $5 million for three new mental health treatment and research projects at the Sunshine Coast Mind and Neuroscience—Thompson Institute. These three programs, examining youth mental health, suicide prevention and dementia, will produce cutting-edge research outcomes that will place the Sunshine Coast at the forefront of mental health not only in Australia but also worldwide.

In June, the minister visited Lake Kawana General Practice with me, not far from my electorate office, to announce a $3.2 million investment in an Australian first: a pilot program to investigate new approaches to treating eating disorders in our nation. Following training from the Butterfly Foundation in the latest methods for diagnosing and treating eating disorders, local healthcare professionals will refer patients to the pilot, where they will receive the sustained and comprehensive treatment they need, including up to 50 psychosocial sessions for people with anorexia nervosa or other complex disorders. A comprehensive evaluation will be undertaken at the end of the pilot that will inform treatment for patients all over Australia.

During the winter recess, I was proud to announce a further grant of $1½ million from this government to a joint venture between local charity endED and the Butterfly Foundation. With this funding, together they will build in my electorate the first ever residential treatment facility for eating disorders in Australia. It seems incomprehensible that in 2018 I am saying this will be the first facility in Australia. As I know well, people suffering from an eating disorder who need residential care currently have to go to secure psychiatric units. These units are clinical, unfamiliar and very often, sadly, stressful places and don't provide the ideal environment for recovery. EndED Butterfly House will specialise in the treatment of eating disorders only and will provide a peaceful and home like environment on a wonderful property set in the heart of the picturesque Mooloolah Valley. It will lead the way in how these devastating conditions are treated in our country, providing 24/7 care and support, recreation, family therapy and group therapy. It's my hope that EndED Butterfly House will be the first of others throughout the country.

EndED founder Mark Forbes has been working incredibly hard on his vision for this facility for many years. He's received wonderful support from the community, including $1.3 million in philanthropic support. He is a legend. This is a great project. And this government supports it 100 per cent.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member. Is the motion seconded?

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion is seconded and I reserve my right to speak.

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to support the motion on mental health from the member for Fisher, who, like me, comes to this place with a lived experience of mental illness in his family. Last week I was joined at Hobartville Public School, in the Hawkesbury, by the shadow minister for schools. Straightaway their principal, who is doing an outstanding job of building cohesion and inclusivity in her community, brought up mental health as the school's biggest challenge. It isn't unusual for mental wellness, and the challenges that come with that, to be the first thing that many principals and teachers speak to me about when I am out at local schools. It was also the theme of the guest speaker at the Blue Mountains Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day march yesterday in Springwood. David Savage, the first Australian civilian to be wounded in Afghanistan—by a 12-year-old suicide bomber—spoke about his work with Soldier On. This is something we should be talking about and doing something about.

I certainly welcome any increased investment in this area. I note that the Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network announced a range of new mental health programs that are rolling out this year, including headspace's Youth Early Psychosis Program; the Blue Mountains Aboriginal Culture and Resource Centre and Ted Noffs both delivering support for people who have ice addiction; and the Black Dog Institute delivering training for local GPs, practice nurses and general practice staff, to enhance their support for people at risk of suicide and those suffering mental illness.

I do believe that primary health, the first point of contact for people who are unwell, has a key role. Patients who are mentally unwell don't always keep appointments and they don't always show up on time, and that can create real tensions in the sort of treatment that they then go on to receive, even at a local level. It is disappointing, though, to see that, this month, referrals under the ATAPS scheme, where people in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury can access a program of psychological therapy, will be reduced from six sessions per referral to five and to 10 per calendar year. People will know that those sessions can go by very fast.

When people ask me about the combative nature of parliament, I point out that the one place where I see more alignment of interests and shared beliefs than any other is in the suicide prevention and mental health space. We all talk about the commitment to mental health this government has and that we have on this side of the parliament. That doesn't mean we are necessarily matching our commitment as well as we could. After working closely with my community on the issue of mental health over the last couple of years, and consulting with a broad cross-section of both providers and consumers of mental health services, I know that we need to see more services delivered outside the central hub for our region, which is Penrith, which is not even in my electorate. For people in the upper Blue Mountains it's more than an hour's train ride, and there is only one train an hour, so just to get to an appointment can be the best part of a day gone. In the Hawkesbury you can't even catch a train there. We are in desperate need of affordable and accessible mental health services, delivered on location. We need resources targeted at early intervention and prevention for young people, delivered on location. I congratulate headspace for being involved in the Platform Youth Services winter sleep-out on Friday night, but, if a young person did decide to visit headspace today, it would take them hours to get there from anywhere in the Hawkesbury if they didn't have a car.

We need support and education networks in place for families of people who have challenges with their mental health, because sadly we are still not taking that holistic approach that's needed. Families, friends and carers are left to try to make do with the information they get on Google, yet we know how vital they are in the recovery and support of people who have mental illness, particularly at those crucial stages just prior to a major crisis or incident and just after people are discharged from hospital. We need mental health support in our schools so that our teachers aren't alone in the role of counsellors and psychologists.

This feedback is mirrored by findings of the Mission Australia youth survey report 2017, which found that mental health and alcohol and drugs—two issues that go hand in hand—were identified by both male and female survey respondents as their top two issues. Nationally, 33.7 per cent of those surveyed identified mental health as the top issue, and 32 per cent identified alcohol and drugs. As I said to the attendees at the PTSD awareness walk organised by the Richmond based Australian Resource Centre for PTSD, these are not issues that governments alone can solve, but we can do a lot to ensure that services are provided in the places that they're needed.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macquarie for those comments. I do concur with that view that it is difficult to provide all services in regional areas, and, certainly, I represent a large part of Australia. But we must do the best we can, because one in five people across Australia is affected by mental illness each year. That means one in five people in each town, each city, each workplace and each community. That really means that mental illness affects everyone in some way. Behind those staggering numbers, there are human beings who are suffering. It might be your mum or your dad who's struggling, or your son or daughter, or even you yourself. What's more, mental illness is costing the nation around $60 billion a year.

Like the member for Fisher, I applaud the excellent work that is being done by the government and communities in my electorate of Grey to help Australians with mental illness. We know that access to treatment for mental illness is essential, and approximately 75 per cent of people admitted to the public-health sector's mental-health-inpatient services improve notably.

In Grey, I'm particularly pleased to have been able to deliver a second headspace unit in Whyalla, and now an outreach headspace unit delivered by the RFDS. These services work hand in glove with the already established Port Augusta headspace unit. I am hopeful of growing these services even further and have been having discussions with the Minister for Health.

However, I also want to recognise the great work that other organisations are providing across my electorate—organisations like Mentally Fit EP, the West Coast Youth and Community Support, Ripples in Whyalla, and the Local Drug Action Team recently formed in Port Pirie, who are meeting head-on the issues of drug damage and mental illness in communities—and government programs that are supporting mental health and related physical health and those on alcohol and other drug use and for social and vocational support.

Also, many areas in Australia are experiencing drought or drought-like conditions, and it's taking a real toll on farmers and rural businesses. Farmers are also affected by mental illness. Each year the agricultural industry contributes around $60 billion to the Australian economy, but farming remains one of the most physically and psychologically hazardous occupations. For example, in farming we have a suicide rate of about 1.6 times that in the general population. The exceptional emotional effects on farmers battling drought are huge. They are seeing their stock suffer and the land they are on suffer. And it takes its toll on people. The mental stress suffered by watching your family's livelihood—in some cases, generations of family work—fail is crushing.

Last Wednesday night I called a drought forum in Arno Bay, which is on eastern Eyre Peninsula and is perhaps the epicentre of the worst of what is happening across South Australia at the moment. At quite short notice I had about 70 or 75 people roll up. We had Centrelink services there and rural financial services counsellors. I think it was a very comforting thing for the farmers and associated businesses to actually understand the latest changes that the government have made to farm household support. In fact, it was pointed out to me by the Centrelink officer that, if a farm qualified for all of the support, that would round up to almost $46,000 a year for a partnership. That is quite considerable, but it is a long way from rescuing the farm when it's blowing away. In these particular districts, we have had some widespread soil erosion across the Eyre Peninsula, and the eastern end has missed out on a lot of the quite substantial rain that we've had recently, and actually tying down those paddocks and alleviating that drift is the most pressing concern. But certainly, the mental health and the wellbeing of those people is first and foremost.

The stigma of farmers talking about mental health and social issues and the silences in our culture are hard to break. Traditionally, farmers have just soaked it up. It's the stoic image. I think increasingly they are coming to recognise that it's not just them. It's their neighbours; it's their friends; it's their business associates. Many are in exactly the same boat. Coming together and talking about it is perhaps part of the answer. So I urge them to seek out those services that are provided. One of the underlying messages that was rammed through all evening was: do not self-assess. You're under pressure. You may not know all the answers. The government, through the Rural Financial Counselling Service is there to help you. I applaud the work of the government. We'll keep up the good work, with the support of the opposition.

Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too thank the member for Fisher for bringing this motion forward. Interestingly, this motion actually covers two distinct topics—mental health and aged care. Both of these are critically important issues that should be spoken about far more openly and broadly in our community. Addressing mental health is everybody's responsibility. Everybody in the community has a role to play in ensuring that we live in societies that are flourishing and where everybody has the opportunity for strong mental health. Before being elected to this parliament, I was the CEO of two community managed organisations. One was a mental health specialist disability employment service—in OECD rankings, Australia has an appalling record of getting work for people with mental health conditions and people with disabilities—and the other focused on social inclusion and community inclusion for people living with a range of mental health conditions.

I think it's fair to also mention at this point in time that, when we talk about our First Nations countries, we don't talk about mental health; we talk about social and emotional wellbeing. I think we need to be very mindful of that. Living in a multicultural country brings very different views for many communities about how we work with and support people living with mental health issues.

Mental health is certainly one of my passions, and I used my years of experience and dedication at the local, state and federal level to raise awareness and to ensure that the funding being put into the sector by governments was appropriate, timely and met the needs of individual communities. I can assure you that, during my time in the sector, the government that best supported mental health was the Labor government. It was Labor that actually gave us our first minister for mental health, and significant investment was made in that sector. It was a Labor government that focused on working with people and creating opportunities for peer support programs for people with lived experience, who have a vital role to play in being actively engaged and employed in the sector. Labor has a very proud record of delivering long-term mental health reform, as I have said.

Recently, in the by-election in Braddon, the Shorten Labor government announced that we would fund a new headspace for Burnie—a critical early intervention service that will assist young people between the ages of 12 and 25. In government, Labor increased funding for mental health by 357 per cent to approximately $2.4 billion from 2011-12 to 2014-15, compared to the $516 million provided in the four years from 2004-05 to 2007-08. It was a significant increase. Labor invested around $200 million over five years to fund an additional 30 new headspace centres, bringing the total number of centres to 90 in 2016. Labor also expanded the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre services that are delivered by headspace. They are vital services.

At the 2016 election, Labor's mental health policy had a strong focus on suicide prevention. I'm very pleased to say that we have a trial site in my electorate of Herbert that is focusing on veterans and their families. Our 2016 election commitments included the National Mental Health Commission's recommendation to reduce suicide by 50 per cent over 10 years—a significant target and one well worth working towards. Labor have encouraged the Turnbull government to accept this target but, as yet, that has not happened. Our policy was also to roll out 12 suicide prevention trial sites across the nation. We are very pleased the Turnbull government has since adopted Labor's policy on this very important issue.

We have also been pressuring the government to ensure that those Australians living with mental ill health who are not eligible for the NDIS receive continuity of care. This is proving to be a major problem. I am receiving at least two or three visits every three or four days about people with mental health conditions who are missing out. I would also like to say that mental health support should go from birth to death. We cannot safely assume that people in aged-care facilities don't need mental health support. They do. I urge the government to focus on that as well.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I really want to commend the member for Fisher for this motion and recognise that he has an ongoing and passionate commitment in this space. That is something that we on this side understand and acknowledge. His motion acknowledges that mental health is a crucial area, which says it all. The government has made mental health an absolute priority—as we have seen, it's a key pillar of the Long Term National Health Plan—and has made a record investment of $4.3 billion, as the member for Fisher rightly says in his motion. I commend the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, on his efforts in this space and for understanding it very directly. We have seen announcements recently, including the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, which is a very sound initiative. That has been delivered by this government, as has been funding for mental health research projects as part of the medical research announcements. All of those are layer upon layer of what we are doing in mental health across the various age groups.

What a fantastic initiative is the Million Minds Mental Health Research Mission. It will provide funding over the next 10 years to support an additional million people with mental illness, through new research, diagnosis and treatment. That's one of the issues that I feel quite strongly about.

I'm really pleased to see the $82.5 million in psychological services in residential aged care. I think that is a wonderful initiative by this government. This is additional funding to support older Australians in Australia who are isolated and at risk. I see a number of those people in my electorate.

I will talk briefly about headspace, which caters for 12- to 25-year-olds. So many of the mental health issues that young people experience emerge before the age of 25, and headspace is one of the important services that we are making sure young people have access to. This is really critical in rural and regional areas, where there are fewer services—that's simply how it is. The provision of this service for 12- to 25-year-olds is so important, because 75 per cent of mental health issues arise before the age of 25—355,000 young people have received services. There are over two million services being provided by headspace. One of those headspace units is in Bunbury in my electorate. Another unit I've worked hard on is in Busselton. Young people can access a health worker there, whether it be a GP, a psychologist, a social worker, an alcohol and drug worker, a counsellor, a vocational worker or a youth worker.

I encourage young people in rural, regional and remote areas who don't have physical access to look at e-headspace, which provides confidential support seven days a week between nine o'clock and one o'clock. Those sessions can last from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. That is really important, because not everybody is going to have a physical headspace unit in a location where they need it, but so many of our great young people use the internet, and this could prove to be a very useful support for young people in rural and remote areas. I also recognise the mental health support we have provided to veterans. It has been groundbreaking in this space.

I will also talk briefly about some of the additional pressures that reflect in people's mental health status about what is happening online. The member for Fisher knows well that I have worked extensively in this area.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hear, Hear!

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I see this on a daily basis for people of all ages and the additional pressure this brings to their lives. Finally, I acknowledge the extraordinary work of the Rural Financial Counselling Service that has saved so many lives in Western Australia.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak today on the motion moved by the member for Fisher. In doing so, I would like to congratulate him and thank him very much for his advocacy in this parliament for mental health issues. I know that he has a deep, abiding and bipartisan approach to this. I congratulate him for this motion. I also want to take the opportunity to highlight the dire need for us to adequately establish and fund mental health services. I think that this is very much not a partisan-political issue.

I have been involved in mental health issues with children and adolescents for many, many years. I was very saddened in the last few weeks to meet with the mother of one of my old patients Liam, who, unfortunately, took his own life a couple of weeks ago. I remember him as a lovely boy, full of life, full of energy and really having a lot to offer our community. Unfortunately, because of mental health issues, he began to self-medicate. As an adolescent and young adult, he had multiple admissions to hospitals in many different places and, ultimately, as I said, he took his own life. I wish and want us to do things better. I know that we can.

I do congratulate the government on its recent additions to mental health funding, but I see this from a slightly different perspective. It's not all about funding, it's not all about money. It's about the coordination of services, it's about all of us taking responsibility. There is not a family in this country that hasn't been affected by mental health issues. I know that we can do things better.

My own profession has to take some responsibility in this area. Pat McGorry, an Australian of the Year, has done a lot to establish mental health services. But, unfortunately, I do believe my profession has not done the right thing in many areas to provide ongoing and consistent mental health services for all Australians. By example, I know that there are many psychiatrists in the capital cities—Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth—but there are very few practising psychiatrists in rural and regional areas. There are very few psychiatrists who do outreach clinics in rural and regional areas. I think that my own profession has to really take a good, hard look at itself in this regard.

I also know that there are very poorly coordinated services. Headspace is a good service for adolescents with mental health issues, but headspace's resources vary very much from place to place. We could certainly be doing better.

I also strongly believe that there needs to be much better coordination between inpatient and outpatient services. There is very little in the way of good ongoing case management for some of the most disadvantaged. I see this every day when I walk through the railway tunnel that connects Campbelltown railway station to the main street of Campbelltown. I see many people sleeping rough, many of whom I have treated as children or adolescents, who have mental health issues. They have very poor case management. It's not unusual for a person admitted to hospital for many different mental health issues to come into hospital under one psychiatrist and be discharged to be cared for by another mental health team who are not connected to the hospital mental health team and so on and so forth. So there's no continuity of care.

So yes, we should have funding, but we need coordinated care and funding of that care. A lot of what the government has done has been good in this—providing connections between headspace, psychologists and psychiatrists—but we could do a lot better. To me, this issue is not necessarily one of funding, but of coordination of care. I do strongly believe that, with all of us working together, we can do much, much better. Once again, I congratulate the member for Fisher for this motion. I completely support him, and I congratulate any positive moves by the government. (Time expired)

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to commend the member for Fisher, as others have done, for his motion today. He has been a wonderful leader and advocate for mental health policy in this parliament. He is a great supporter of the Thompson Institute, in his electorate, which does vital work in mental health policy, and has shared with the parliament his family's battles with eating disorders. Like me, the member for Fisher has a determination to make a real difference in mental health policy. I'm always pleased to support him and value his friendship. I should also acknowledge the excellent contribution from the member for Macarthur, the member for Forrest and others who have made speeches on this particular motion. It's indicative of the way in which this particular issue touches so many in our community and this parliament.

Today's motion gives me the opportunity to inform the House of a suicide prevention initiative that I launched in my electorate of Berowra during the winter recess. It's an initiative that I hope will eventually be rolled out right across the country. Suicide, as we know, is a national tragedy. Around eight people die by suicide every day and there have been 109 suicides in my electorate over the last 10 years. As someone bereaved by suicide, I don't want another family to go through what my family went through after my father's death, by suicide, in 1996. As co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Suicide Prevention, with the member for Eden-Monaro, I have placed suicide prevention at the front and centre of what I hope to achieve as a parliamentarian. I believe that building close-knit, resilient communities is a critical response to this crisis. As federal parliamentarians we have the ability to build awareness and resilience. So I have made that a goal: to make Berowra a modern suicide-safe community.

On 31 July, I hosted a Lifeline training session for more than 170 community leaders from across my electorate. Participants included representatives from sports clubs, churches, parents and citizens groups, Rotary, the Lions Club, Toastmasters, the Scouts and other civic groups in our area. It was a special and historic night as it was the first time in my electorate that our local community organisational leadership had come together, in this way, for a common cause. And it makes me particularly proud that my community has shown such an interest in suicide prevention. Lifeline delivered a training program called Dare To Ask, which focuses on learning how to recognise the potential signs that someone you know might be thinking about ending their own life.

As I said in my maiden speech, since my father's death I have reflected on the week before he died many times. Like many families, we were always a family that hugged each other. But he started giving us all these very long hugs. Like many blokes his age—like many blokes my age—my father was very proud of his parking and driving, but the week before he died he just didn't seem to care. If I'd recognised these signs and known what to do, I could have started a conversation that may have saved his life. I want Berowra to be a community—in fact, I want Australia to be a country—where more people can recognise the signs and know what to do.

Lifeline's program provides people with that skill. It teaches us how to ask people the difficult question and how to respond to someone's answer with empathy. It also emphasises the importance of prioritising self-care, as daring to ask another who's struggling can be highly confronting. We are never responsible for the decisions others make, but we can make a significant difference if we have the courage to start the conversation and the knowledge of where to access help. Lifeline's programs provide people with those skills.

I challenged the 170 community leaders who participated in the training to sign a pledge to roll out Lifeline's Accidental Counsellor program across their organisations over the next 12 months. Within days, more than 20 organisations had taken the pledge. Soon, hundreds of my constituents will be undertaking suicide prevention training. In 12 months, I intend to update the House on our progress in making Berowra a model suicide-safe community. And I want to put colleagues on notice. I will issue a challenge to all my federal MPs to mobilise their own communities to run similar suicide prevention programs. I believe that by doing this we can all make a real difference and reduce the number of deaths by suicide in our country.

I want to acknowledge the wonderful people at Lifeline Harbour to Hawkesbury—in particular, Wendy Carver, their CEO, and Cutty Felton, who delivered the program on the night. I want to commend Daniel Mezrani, who very bravely spoke on the night about his own experience of being bereaved by suicide. On the training night, Cutty shared a story. It's an old story. She told the story of a man who was walking along a beach littered with hundreds of washed-up dying starfish. The man noticed a boy on the shoreline who was throwing the starfish, one by one, back into the ocean. The man was puzzled and said to the boy: 'This beach stretches for miles. There are hundreds of starfish. You can't possibly make any difference.' The boy simply picked up a starfish, threw it back into the ocean, and said, 'I made a difference for that one.' Trying to reduce deaths by suicide is an enormous undertaking; however, as the parable of the starfish thrower reminds us, in this space we can make a difference, one person at a time.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise today to speak on the motion raised by the member for Fisher. In doing so, I acknowledge the bipartisan support in making sure that long-term mental health reform continues to be a national priority.

Mental health continues to be a crucial area that needs our attention, because, despite continued efforts of funding and reform in this area, mental health remains a significant health issue for our community. I do acknowledge the government for maintaining mental health as a priority—one that is a key pillar of the national long-term health plan, with its $4.3 billion investment. I want to acknowledge the commitment to providing more support service and increasing investment in national psychological support measures, including striking an agreement with the state governments that will ensure more support services for our community.

Labor has a strong and proud record in delivering long-term mental health reform. It's a record that I certainly do hope to have the opportunity to see continue under a Shorten Labor government. In government, Labor increased funding for mental health by 357 per cent, to around $2.4 billion, from 2011-12 to 2014-15. Labor invested around $200 million over five years to fund an additional 30 headspace centres, bringing the total number of centres to 90 by 2016.

I remember well when, some 10 years ago, Professor Patrick McGorry made mental health a key national issue. He not only began the conversation about an area of health that too often is neglected or ignored; his passion and urgency ensured that mental health was a key government priority and secured significant funding agreements from both the government and the opposition at the time. The focus on youth mental health and suicide was a particular concern, and the many headspace centres that were established as a result of Professor Patrick McGorry's advocacy became the formula with which government responded to youth mental health.

One of these headspace centres is in my electorate, in Craigieburn, and it provides an invaluable service to my young constituents. It is run by Orygen Youth Health Research Centre and it caters for young people aged 12 to 25. It provides for them an opportunity to talk about their mental health in a safe space. It provides support and advice on anything, including: worries about homework; drug and alcohol concerns; relationship pressures; family issues; and just generally experiencing tough times as many young people do, and we know that from our own experiences.

It is estimated that around four million Australians aged 16 to 85 experience mental health problems—one in five Australians! That's a staggering statistic. Some of my colleagues have already spoken about their own personal experiences with mental health. Around 600,000 children and youth between the ages of four and 17 were affected by mental health issues and, tragically, 2,866 Australians died from suicide in 2016. Recognising that we need to do more, and in response to this alarming statistic, Labor put forward a mental health policy at the 2016 election with a strong focus on suicide prevention, which included adopting the National Mental Health Commission's recommendations to reduce suicide by 50 per cent over 10 years. The Turnbull government, at the time, were encouraged to adopt this policy but have yet to do so. I want to take the opportunity to not only congratulate the member for Fisher but also ask my colleagues in government to urge the government to adopt this policy as part of the continuing need for bipartisan support in the critical area of mental health.

As an electorate, Calwell has the highest intake of refugees from Iraq and Syria. These people come from war-torn countries; they have seen indescribable trauma and been exposed to conflict, violence and death. These new and emerging communities may not be aware of mental health plans because of language barriers and cultural differences or, in some instances, because they aren't entitled to a mental health plan.

Thankfully, members of our community have rallied to their support. An example of this is the youth-led, grassroots support organisation Colouring Clouds, which aims to raise awareness of mental health services and encourage young people to talk to each other openly about their mental health without fear, judgement or stigmatisation. Co-founded by my Broadmeadows constituent Anthony Luca and his friend Seamus Carr, Colouring Clouds collaborates with local community groups to create targeted services for those in the electorate and has a focus on the demographic of 25 years of age and under. One of the activities they have undertaken is helping Banksia Gardens to run an after-school sporting program at Bethel Primary School. They use a fun and informal setting to talk to young kids about the importance of physical activity, self-care, caring for your friends and being able to talk to people about your feelings without fear or shame.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for the debate has expired. The debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.