Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 Emma KEALY (Lowan) (14:27): (1798) My constituency question is to the Minister for Mental Health. In March 2022 Labor announced mental health and wellbeing locals for Ballarat, Horsham and Ararat following a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. Mental health and wellbeing locals are the front-facing mental health services that Victorians need to get mental health support in their local communities. Labor said these locals were set to open from mid-2023 and by the end of 2026, but more than three years after that deadline our communities are still waiting. All the while, Labor continues to collect hundreds of millions of dollars through the mental health and wellbeing levy to fund these reforms – in fact more than $1.2 billion this year alone. Minister, the information I seek is: why hasn’t the Labor government delivered the promised mental health and wellbeing locals for Ballarat, Horsham and Ararat when they were announced four years ago and were supposed to open from mid-2023 and the levy money is there to deliver them?