Thursday, 9 June 2022

Ministers statements: mental health reform

Mr MERLINO (Monbulk—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health) (14:26:046:): I rise to update the house about how the Andrews government is implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. Earlier this week I met Brad and Melissa, two Victorians who have one thing in common: bipolar disorder. Melissa, a peer worker at the mental health hub run by Star Health at the Victorian Pride Centre, visited the boarding house where Brad was living. He was reluctant to get the support that he needed, but having someone with lived experience of mental illness made all the difference. Today Brad is living in private rental accommodation, he has got psychiatric care, he has been connected to dental health services and he has even stopped smoking.

Over 30 pop-up mental health hubs connect Victorians to wraparound services they need to improve their mental health and get their lives back on track. Since we launched these hubs seven months ago they have cared for more than 1600 people. Such is the success and impact of these pop-ups, we will continue them for a further 12 months while we roll out permanent mental health locals, a key recommendation of the royal commission. We have made progress on 90 per cent of the royal commission’s recommendations, including funding, because on this side of the house we have always known that the recommendations of the royal commission are not an à la carte menu, because there can be no reform without funding—no hubs, no locals, no mental health nurses, no psychiatrists. But not everyone in the community agrees. There are those who for two years opposed sustainably funding mental health services and, when asked just last month about removing legislation to fund mental health services, said, ‘If we can, we will’—a $3.7 billion, cold-blooded cut from the Leader of the Opposition. Only the Andrews government can be trusted to properly fund and deliver mental health services.