Northern Victoria Region
Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:51): (89) My constituency question relates to the Rochester community and is to the Minister for Mental Health. I ask the minister to provide information about what the department is doing to help local services recruit staff to provide mental health services the Rochester community desperately need. It is nearly six months since floodwaters swept through the town and nearly every home and business was flooded. Homes have been gutted, and people are still living in caravans and temporary accommodation. I visited Rochester last week and heard that people are living in houses covered in mould because they have nowhere else to go. Six months on, people are still under pressure and grieving, young people are struggling and the risk of domestic violence and suicide is very real. There is a shortage of mental health workers, and Anglicare and Echuca Regional Health are struggling to fill the vacancies. Local residents are being told to wait six to eight months for an appointment. More needs to be done to support the people of Rochester to provide the mental health services they so desperately need.