Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Communications) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Brockman, for your question and for your concern and care for those living in rural and regional Australia. This government has put the mental health of rural and regional Australians firmly on the agenda as part of our budget's $338.1 million investment. It's a record investment. We recognise that in the modern day there must be much more flexible and innovative ways to deliver mental health support, particularly for those living outside capital cities in regional areas where access to qualified health professionals can sometimes be a challenge. Nowhere is that more obvious than in regional Australia. The tyranny of distance is an everyday occurrence, where even basic chores can involve hours and hours of driving.

As we all saw last Sunday week on Insiders, driving—and there was a bit of crunching of gears—in general can be a bit of a challenge for Labor leaders when they're faced with the horror of visiting regional Australia. So foreign are rural areas to them that they don't even trust themselves to speak on camera about them. In rural and regional Australia, you don't just pop into the shops; you don't just grab a half-hour appointment with a mental health worker during your lunch hour. These are barriers that rural and regional people, the seven million of them, face. They're not a fringe group; they're not just some small tribe who happen to live outside the coastal fringe. There are seven million Australians who face these types of barriers each and every day.

It's not only the distance that is a problem. In July this year we announced three new mental health intervention programs—Rural Minds; Deadly Thinking; and Resource Minds—to support people who are struggling. We know that 100 per cent of New South Wales and much of Queensland is in drought, and it won't be going away soon. The government is on the front foot, supporting the mental health of our farmers and their families and their communities with $11 million in funding as part of the drought mental health package.