Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week, as many would know, is End Youth Suicide Week, so I thought I would take this opportunity to speak about mental health care in my electorate of Cowper. Over the past five years, or almost five years, in this role, I've held many forums and many round tables, on aged care, youth, industry and getting through COVID. There was a common theme here, and that common theme was mental health and the state of mental health in all of our electorates.

One thing that our government—the coalition government—did at that time was to increase the Medicare-rebated appointments for mental health from 10 to 20. Doctors around my electorate were very grateful for that increase, because they were telling me that over 30 per cent of their consultations were mental health consultations. That is a huge number when you consider, for example, that in my electorate, 27 per cent of the population is over the age of 65—you would think the majority of care would be for aged-care health issues. To have 30 per cent of doctor and GP consultations about mental health is enormous. We can imagine the disappointment when those 20 visits were reduced by the current government, down to 10.

There's a young lady in my electorate by the name of Fleur Davies, who started a petition late last year crying out to have the number of sessions reinstated to 20. That petition amassed thousands of signatures across my electorate. In response to the petition, the Minister for Health and Aged Care proceeded to list the issues and figures around the programs. What he didn't do is list the number of participants from regional areas, or Cowper specifically, nor did he show any compassion for or understanding of those who can't afford access to these programs without the Medicare rebates. He concluded his letter with: 'I note your concerns on the case of mental health sessions. While the government is responsible for setting the level of Medicare rebates for services, professionals are free to set their own fees and some of these may exceed the level of Medicare rebates.' What he has done, effectively, is blame the psychologist or counsellor. Minister, what you need to do is reinstate those Medicare rebates back up to 20 sessions, and do the right thing.