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

In the 2021-22 budget, the former coalition allocated $873.2 million as part of our National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. Some of that money was to go to building a headspace centre in Caloundra. That was supposed to have been opened in July of 2023. We're now in August of 2024, and this government has not even chosen a site. According to the Lancet study that was announced just last week, Professor Pat McGorry, who was the lead author of that report, said that governments around the world are 'failing young people'. This government is no exception—he didn't say that; those are my words. He said, 'Over the last 15 to 20 years we've have seen an alarming rise, a 50 per cent increase, in the need for care in this age group.' That's the 15-year-old to 20-year-old age group. We saw the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare come out with a study recently and say that, for the 15-year-old to 24-year-old age group, the leading cause of death is suicide, yet, over 12 months later, this government—this health minister—is still letting down the young people of Caloundra. I call on him to get cracking and get it open.