Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I think we should all be a little shocked. For the first time ever, we actually saw someone in the Labor Party telling the truth. This was truly a Labor budget: more spending, more taxing and more deceit of the Australian people. In the midst of this Labor-exacerbated cost-of-living crisis, the solution that the Treasurer had was to keep spending, keep taxing and put out a couple of sugar hits to make everyone happy. We saw $315 billion of new spending at a time when we actually need restraint. After two years in office and three budgets, this government is no closer to dealing with its own homegrown inflation crisis, meaning that cost-of-living pressures for all Australians will continue and interest rates will be higher for longer. In fact, today, the average family with a mortgage is more than $35,000 worse off under this government. Isn't it great that at a time when the budget's actually forecasting unemployment to rise that the Albanese government thinks it's a great idea to employ an extra 36,000 additional bureaucrats in Canberra? Does anyone think they're getting a service that's 36,000 times better? I'm pretty sure you're not, and you're certainly not feeling that you've got value for money when you're $35,000 worse off.

A couple of months ago, I was made the shadow assistant minister for mental health, so I had a bit of a look. I wanted to see what was happening in mental health. This country is actually in the midst of a mental health crisis. Whilst it warranted a brief mention last night, this government, of course, failed to prioritise it as the issue that it is. Senator Brockman, I'm glad that you're here, because I actually just got an email from a clinical psychologist in the wheat belt of Western Australia. He said on the budget—and this has only just come through whilst I've been in the chamber—'As usual, mental health is dumbed down, degraded and dehumanised, with policy demoralising to those doing the work.' I don't think I could have summed it up better myself. I will try to cover off some more of that coming out of the West Australian wheat belt, but I think we know the priority this government puts on mental health and wellbeing. We know what they think of farmers. We certainly know what they think of farmers in WA, because they can't wait to kill off every industry over there. I don't think those new Akubras will be so welcome at beef week next week, but here we are.

We know that mental health was exacerbated through the pandemic and that there was a lot of anxiety and uncertainty induced. We know the more that this cost-of-living crisis goes on the more that anxiety is heightened and that important expenditure is becoming further and further out of reach for most families. We also know, like with many things, that early intervention is key in helping scores of young Australians who are exhibiting the first signs of mental illness. We need to make sure that they're supported so that their issues don't get worse. There was the in-principle digital mental health service, with no details, as per usual, about how it will function and what it will do. What there wasn't any money in the budget for and what those opposite seem to not understand is that there are some significant mental illnesses that can't be fixed via an app. They actually require significant interventions, both clinical and medical, to ensure that people are well supported in the community. But what did this government do when it came in? Quick as a flash, they cut the Better Access initiative from 20 sessions to 10. They removed vital services from those who need them most, and there was not a hint last night that they've done anything to bring them back or make them easier to access.

I understand that this isn't sexy stuff. There are no photo ops in Akubras for mental health. But this is something that affects every Australian. It permeates every part of our community. Every family is impacted in some way by mental health. Not all but a lot of families are impacted by significant mental illness. In New South Wales, Sydney has just had two attacks, both of which can, in a lot of ways, be attributed to significant mental illness. They've had lasting damage done to communities and families because those people have failed to be supported. But, yet again, this government is not interested. If it's not about renewable energy, it's not about their budget. This is something that we are seeing time and time again. We didn't see a mention of suicide, something that is a scourge in this country, because that is not the priority of this government. (Time expired)