Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to make a short contribution on this matter of public importance—the Gillard government’s abject failure to properly fund mental health services. It is a shameful situation that the government has let funding for mental health services deteriorate to such an extent that we have to resort to motions of this kind in an attempt to get the government to face up to its responsibilities.

With mental illness affecting more Australians than almost all other health disorders, ranking only behind cancer and heart disease in prevalence; with 45 per cent of the nation’s populace experiencing a mental health disorder at some point in life; and with younger Australians aged between 16 and 24 being the most vulnerable, the need for a properly funded national mental health strategy is an urgent problem that must be addressed. The Gillard government’s paralysis when it comes to dealing with this urgent matter is, unfortunately, all too familiar. Their inability to focus on priorities and implement much-needed reforms is the hallmark of a government that has lost its way. This is a problem crying out for immediate help today, not at some time in the distant future with the now Minister for Mental Health and Ageing still walking around the country trying to consult with people when we know what the problem is and we know what the problem is now.

The fact that the government is clinging so desperately, for example, to its determination to spend $37 billion or $49 billion or whatever the right figure is on a broadband network at the expense of delivering better health and education says it all. It is blindingly obvious that universal fast broadband can be delivered to every Australian far more economically and efficiently than the NBN, yet the government ploughs on, terrified it has nothing to show for three wasted years—and it certainly has nothing to show on mental health.

The tragedy of this policy drift by the Gillard government is plain for all to see. We all know that, between 1995-96 and 2002-03, expenditure on mental health by the Howard government—and I was very proud to be part of that executive—increased by 53 per cent from $792 million to $1.2 billion. They are real dollars. The coalition really gets the importance of funding for mental health. In 2006 the Howard government made the biggest single investment in mental health, with $1.9 billion over five years. Of course, during the recent election campaign, the coalition, after wide consultation, announced mental health policy proposals amounting to $1.5 billion.

In stark contrast, the Labor government’s actions and record are best described as cost-cutting and dismal. They include cuts to the Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program—from $191 million to just $63 million—and cuts to Better Access, removing occupational therapists and social workers from the program. Inexplicably, this government reduced funding to rural and remote services when all the evidence shows that, all too often, suicide, depression and despair lurk in rural communities, where mental illness is often undiagnosed and untreated.

In the Rudd-Gillard government’s national health and hospital reform plan, much touted in this afternoon’s contributions from the other side, mental health was completely overlooked, amounting to less than two per cent of the total reforms. We know that one of the consequences of all these cuts was the resignation of the chair of the National Advisory Council on Mental Health, Professor John Mendoza, who wrote in frustration:

... it is now abundantly clear that there is no vision or commitment from the Rudd Government to mental health.

Damning words indeed. There is some provision in the COAG health reform agreement. However, it is not enacted. So we must ask the question: why not? Yet again this Green-Gillard government is all talk and no action. The government has lost control of any sense of responsible direction on mental health. It is clear from the minutes of Kevin Rudd’s sign-off speech to the party room that the government acknowledges the waste and mismanagement under the $16.2 billion Building the Education Revolution program—administered, of course, by Ms Gillard. Just imagine if just some of the funds wasted and thrown away on useless make-work schemes had been invested in the mental health of this nation. That really would be a revolution to be proud of.

The coalition, on the other hand, promised in the lead-up to the recent election to commit $1.5 billion to mental health. That spend was comprehensive and endorsed by many prominent Australians involved in the field of mental health. Earlier speakers have outlined what that provides—a minimum of 90 headspace centres nationally, early psychosis and prevention intervention centres and early psychosis prevention that would add another 800 acute and subacute beds. The coalition’s plans, not surprisingly, received widespread acclaim and recognition, with Professor Pat McGorry—the Australian of the Year and an expert in mental health—saying:

… this policy would save lives—

I hope you are listening over there!—

ensure young lives are not stunted or derailed, and stem the tide of Australians with untreated mental illnesses flowing to our emergency departments, onto our streets and into our prisons.

The government is simply drifting into an abyss in failing to address mental health. This failure to act on mental health is a national disgrace. It is a comprehensive failure of leadership and political will. The government should stand condemned for miserably failing in its obligation to recognise and deliver on this urgent national priority to underpin the mental health of all Australians.