Mental health workers
Mr HALSE (Ringwood) (12:40): It is a great privilege to rise to deliver my first members statement for 2022 and to highlight the incredible work of our mental health workforce. Throughout the last two years it has been a very difficult time for so many in our community across all ages, across all industries, across all aspects of life. But one group of workers that have rocked up every single day are our mental health workers. Right now there will be mental health workers in my local hospital that will have worked 10- and 12-hour shifts. It is the mental health nurses, it is the counsellors, it is the psychiatrists, it is the psychologists, it is the support staff, it is the admin staff that keep our services going. And it is this Andrews Labor government that made the bold decision a few years ago to implement Australia’s very first mental health royal commission. We said that we will adopt every single recommendation of that Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. It is an enormous piece of work, but it is about making sure that Victorians get the very best access to mental health services, which they deserve. I am proud to be in a government that is leading that incredible piece of reform. I want to thank again every single mental health worker for the work that they do. You are ordinary people doing extraordinary work every single day.