Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will commence my brief remarks where Senator Humphries left off: I would also like to—and, I am sure, on behalf of all the members of the committee—thank the very diligent, professional and hardworking members of the secretariat, who were placed under enormous pressure in recent days; they went on an incredible journey with every member of this committee. Like Senator Forshaw, I also thank the many people who wrote submissions and were actually brave enough to appear before the committee and talk about their personal challenges and the journeys that they had been on. Like Senator Humphries, I place on the record my thanks to and acknowledgement of every member of this committee. It is a journey that seven individual members of this place have taken. For us to have come up with such a substantial report that we all feel confident we can agree on and commit to is, I think, an achievement worth noting.

As has been remarked, mental illness is an issue that touches every section of our community. It is said that it affects up to 20 per cent of our population. In looking at the recommendations that our report contains, in looking at a holistic approach, I am sure it is the aim of every member of this committee not only to say to every government of every persuasion, ‘This must be one of your key priorities in addressing the health needs of our community,’ but also to come up with a solution that says to someone with a mental illness: ‘There is no longer a wrong door for you to go through. We are going to treat you as a whole person and we are going to try to come up with a solution that addresses your needs.’

As I have said in this place before, I live in the suburb of Mount Hawthorn in Western Australia. There are currently 3,912 people on the electoral roll in Mount Hawthorn. So, if you accept the 20 per cent marker I mentioned, approximately 780 people in my own suburb will actually be suffering from some kind of mental illness or mental distress at any one time.

It is therefore an issue that touches every aspect of our community and, I am sure, everyone in this building in a different way. Senator Forshaw has talked about his personal experience from a family point of view. It does not leave a section of our society untouched. Our former Premier in Western Australia has also been touched by mental illness and has gone on a very long and hard journey himself. We have people from the likes of Geoff Gallop to the woman who lives next door to me. She is of Greek origin. She has lived in her home for 40-odd years and has progressively suffered from very debilitating episodes of manic depression. Indeed, when I first moved into my home 10 years ago, she was in an institution, and so I did not realise the difficulties that family had faced. Not only did they have to battle with the stigma that Senator Humphries has rightly identified; but the stigma within our immigrant communities, within the more marginalised parts of our society, is even greater than within the mainstream or decision-making groups within our community.

In trying to finalise my very brief remarks, because I know the pressures this chamber is under and I am anxious that other members of the committee get the opportunity to speak, I just want to say that what has really struck me most of all the evidence that we saw was some evidence that we got from some young people in Victoria. There was one young woman in particular who talked about the challenges that she has faced from adolescence—she is now in her early 20s—and the impact that they have not only on her health and wellbeing but her ability to be a fully formed member of our community and her ability to obtain and maintain employment and training. At that point in time, she was feeling well and she was employed—she felt she had the capacity to be further employed than she was but she did not want to risk her mental wellbeing. She summed up her journey by saying, ‘They don’t hand out gold medals for the race that I have run.’ I think that is a fitting note on which to allow others to contribute.