Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Mental health and wellbeing locals

Emma KEALY (Lowan) (19:16): (829) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Mental Health. The action I seek is for the minister to provide a revised timeframe for the rollout of mental health locals across the state. It is a point of seriousness today. Today is national suicide awareness day. I know that many people in this chamber have a loved one or a friend or someone who they were very close to who is no longer here because they have taken their own life. Suicide is something that we can address. It is something that we can do so much around if we ensure that the right mental health supports are in place, that we have communities that are empowered to support their loved ones, that people know the flags and are willing to reach out and feel comfortable in doing so but also that we give people hope that there are not people in a more urgent situation than them, that they are worth it and that they are not taking up time in our mental health system by reaching out for help and assistance. On national suicide awareness day I do pay my respects to those Victorians in particular who we have lost this year, to the friends who I have lost to suicide over my life and also just to all of the loved ones who are left behind wondering what more they could have done to be able to make a life longer lived than what it was. I would also like to acknowledge the mental health workers, who do an exceptional job.

Regarding my adjournment matter, one of the commitments of the royal commission was to roll out mental health locals across the state, and this was very, very important in that it was about providing front-facing services that were largely directed and managed by regional boards. Now we have seen in this year’s budget that all of the budgets have been cut for the future rollout of mental health locals. The mental health sector is very, very concerned about this because it is having an impact on the ability to recruit people to a mental health sector where they can see a strong pathway in their career but also see a direct way that they can support people in their community to improve their mental health. There is great uncertainty around this given it has been cut from the budget, particularly around when this might be happening or whether it is on the shelf altogether.

I do ask the minister to provide that revised timeframe for the rollout of mental health locals, particularly for my community. There were mental health locals promised for Horsham, for Stawell and also for Hamilton. Our local area deserves to have mental health supports. Our people deserve to be able to reach out for support and actually get it when they need it. This has to be one of the most important things to ensure the mental health of our people is strong. I urge the minister to provide that rollout and to ensure that my mental health locals are top of the list.