Mental health reform
Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (17:08): (5824) My adjournment request is to the Minister for Mental Health. The action I seek is a briefing on the benefits to the constituents of Broadmeadows from the final report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System. Mental health is a shadow pandemic. Almost half of all Victorians will experience mental health issues and illness in their lifetime. That is why the Andrews Labor government has invested an historic almost $870 million into mental health. The funding includes the HOPE service, the hospital outreach post-suicidal engagement initiative. Broadmeadows will play a pivotal role in helping to provide this new service. It is part of a statewide rollout of services for mental health so individuals can rebuild their lives. This government has invested more than $60 million in the program so far, and it will become part of a series of other investments as the Victorian government begins to rebuild the entire mental health system.
Part of the last budget was for the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, a new centre dedicated to bringing together the experts in our system, from researchers to academics, and those who have experienced mental health issues firsthand. This is another $16 million to help Victorians with new training positions, education and opportunities for employment and more funding to connect all of these initiatives for better positions for graduate nurses, postgraduate mental health nursing scholarships and improving the rotations of junior medical officers and psychiatrists. Put together, these initiatives will rebuild the mental health system. This is another groundbreaking reform that will define cultural, generational and systemic benefits and will be one of the key legacies of this government.