David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If budgets are about priorities, it's a sad day when we see $11 billion in fossil fuel subsidies and just one per cent of that going to new mental health funding—$111 million per year in new funding. That is the smallest investment in mental health funding since 2018. This is at a time when mental health problems are skyrocketing in our communities. The demand for services is huge, and there is not the support to keep up.

Just this week the Victorian government reported that mental health presentations in their emergency rooms have hit a five-year high. One in three psychologists in Australia say that they have closed their books to new clients. It's pretty much impossible to get in to see a psychiatrist in any time frame. Community providers are scraping by, running on fumes. Fixing this should be a priority for the government. It should be a priority in any budget. The investments that have been made are good, but they are not on the scale that is required to deal with this around the country.

The pathway to train new mental health workers is a long one. If we're not adding places now, we're going to have shortages year on year into the future. The government has also chosen not to support psychologists through their placements, like it has for nurses and teachers. Unpaid placements put enormous stress on students, tipping some of them well below the poverty line. If we don't want students to drop out of placements, then we need to ensure that they have the basics to get by.

Let's get serious about this. Mental health is a precious thing.