Thursday, 18 August 2022

Seymour community wellbeing hub

Ms MAXWELL (Northern Victoria) (18:02): (2071) My adjournment is to the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is for the government to support and provide funding for the establishment of the Seymour community wellbeing hub. The Seymour community wellbeing hub is a partnership between the Mitchell Shire Council, Seymour Health, Goulburn Valley Health and Nexus Primary Health. The Seymour community was identified in the Dropping off the Edge 2021 report as being one of Victoria’s most disadvantaged communities. The index of relative socio-economic disadvantage for this community rates Seymour at 897. Their economic and social challenges are entrenched and intergenerational: 18 per cent of children are developmentally vulnerable in two or more domains; family violence occurs at a level that is three times the state average, with an incident rate of 4018 per 100 000 people; one in three school leavers do not complete year 12; one in six young people are not participating in work or study; 20 per cent of homes in Seymour have no internet connection; almost 8 per cent of dwellings are social housing; and 7 per cent of people in Seymour require assistance with core life activities. Despite these troubling statistics it is not all doom and gloom in Seymour. This is a community that is doing it really tough, but it is also a community with vision, determination and committed stakeholders and community leaders—but they cannot do it alone.

The community have a strong concept for their community wellbeing hub. They want to deliver integrated health and mental health support for people in Seymour and the surrounding areas, knowing that a no-wrong-door and multidisciplinary approach will help meet the needs of their community in an efficient and supportive way. The hub would be home to a range of services, such as community mental health, space for a veterans mental health and wellbeing service, a centre against sexual assault, health promotion, dental care, primary health services, a Youth Assist clinic and flexible consulting rooms. The location for the hub is really important, and the Seymour community has identified an ideal location that will connect to the library and link to other educational and creative spaces.

This is a project for the Seymour community and the Mitchell shire more broadly. Seymour is an area with profound need, yet they have a massive struggle accessing health and social services. Many people in the Seymour region cannot afford private psychological or medical consultations. If the services are available, they often have to travel to other regions, sometimes hours away, to get the help they need. The Seymour revitalisation project conducted extensive community consultation, and this project was identified as a top priority. The Seymour community wellbeing hub is estimated to cost $23 million and requires a state government investment of $9 million towards the project. I look forward to the government’s support on this serious and urgent matter.