Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Siewert, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) that the vast majority of Australians voted for marriage equality in the recent postal survey,

(ii) that the postal survey had a negative impact on the mental health of many LGBTIQ Australians and their families, demonstrated by examples such as Reachout which saw a 40 per cent, and Switchboard which saw a 35 per cent, increase in people accessing their services between August and October 2017,

(iii) that 40 per cent of young LGBTIQ people seeking help are at a higher risk of suicide – almost double the rate for their heterosexual peers,

(iv) that many LGBTIQ people will remain scarred by the traumatic ordeal the Government has put them through by putting their rights to a public popular vote,

(v) the urgent need to address this issue and offer support to the LGBTIQ community, and

(vi) that the marriage equality postal survey came in approximately $20 million under budget; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to show leadership and spend this unspent postal survey funding on mental health services for LGBTIQ people.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As stated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its media release of 15 November 2017, the final cost of the postal survey is yet be determined but it is under $100 million. The appropriation allocated to the ABS through the Advance to the Finance Minister Determination (No. 1 of 2017-18) was for the specific purpose of a conduct of the Australian marriage law postal survey. Any surplus funds will be returned to the budget.

The coalition government has made mental health a priority and it is expected that we will be investing over $4.2 billion in 2017-18. Included within this investment is an additional $47 million for suicide prevention and continuing support services.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition will support this motion today. The fact is that there has been an increase in demand for mental health services over the past month as a result of the postal survey. In August it was reported that beyondblue registered a 40 per cent increase in call volume following the announcement of the postal survey. LGBTQ phone counselling service QLife has also recorded a more than 20 per cent increase in the number of calls since the postal survey was announced.

We know the mental health of LGBTQ people is of concern, with lesbian, gay and bisexual Australians twice as likely to have a high to very high level of psychological stress as their heterosexual peers. Australia's leading mental health experts were so concerned about the impact of the postal survey on LGBTQ Australians that they launched their own campaign, Mind The Facts. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wrote to the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, because he too was concerned about the impact this postal survey would have on the LGBTQ community. It is also clear that they never wanted a public debate— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.