Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure that people around the country were pleased to see today the announcement from the government which has outlined a different approach to how we are going to deliver mental health care across this country. In addressing the senator's question about funding, it seems extraordinary that the senator would go to the issue that funding is going to be the only thing that is going to solve these problems and to give us a new approach to mental health care. But that is not surprising coming from the Greens, because you just see a simplistic approach about asking for more money. What we need is a new approach to how we are going to deliver mental health care in this country and that is exactly what the coalition government have delivered today

It is about efficiently and effectively using the funding available, in what is a very tight fiscal environment, so we can get better outcomes. This policy is going to deliver much better outcomes. We are going to move from the current situation, where we see delivery of programs from Canberra out across the community—a very centralised and siloed approach to how those programs are delivered.