Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Mental health and suicide prevention are absolutely the core focus of the health priorities of this government and absolutely central to the Commonwealth's Long Term National Health Plan. It is a strong economy that allows us to invest in these targeted health initiatives to help equip young people with the skills and the resources that they need to deal with the barriers that they face when they're going into work, to deal with their mental health conditions and to make sure that they either enter into education or enter into employment. I think we are very, very proud of the fact that we can say that we're doing far more than any previous government to safeguard the health of Australians, and particularly young Australians, with an expected $5.3 billion invested in the mental health of Australians this year alone, because we understand that overcoming barriers to work is one of the core roles government has to ensure all Australians have the opportunity to get a job.