Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government is investing in Australia's future by investing in the wellbeing of young Australians. I'm very pleased that headspace Toowoomba has been successful in receiving a grant of almost $1 million from this government to hire one full-time intake worker and two full-time intervention workers. It's great to see the Toowoomba region sharing in the Morrison government's $26 million investment nationwide. Over the next four years that will grow to an investment of $873 million, including $758 million for the establishment of new services.

This is in recognition of the fact that one in four people will be affected by mental illness every year and that building resilience in our nation's youth is so important for our future. Our young people have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, placing greater stress on our support services. The issue worsens in regional and rural areas, where many young people lost work during the height of the pandemic. In Toowoomba at it's worst we saw youth unemployment creep above 25 per cent. Today, it sits at 9.7 per cent. But, while the situation has improved vastly, there is still much to do. Headspace is perfectly placed to reach this age group by offering young people access to free or low-cost support, whether for mental health, related physical health, substance misuse or social and vocational support. This funding will help headspace Toowoomba to reduce wait times to see at-risk youths sooner.

This reinforces the government's strong commitment to achieve better mental health for all Australians, complementing a record investment of $6.5 million in health and suicide prevention in this year's budget. (Time expired)