Tuesday, 15 October 2024

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:04): (677) My question this afternoon is to the Minister for Mental Health. Minister, since September 2020 the number of drug and alcohol users waiting for residential rehabilitation has soared by 93 per cent according to a survey by the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association. Why are some of Victoria’s most vulnerable people waiting almost twice as long for treatment despite the government’s $1 billion mental health tax?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:05): I thank Ms Crozier for her question. Of course when it comes to harm reduction and tackling the difficult issues around addictions, whether that is alcohol or other drugs, the Allan Labor government are absolutely proud of the fact that since 2014 we have actually doubled the investment in AOD services. In the four brief years that those opposite were in government, I will tell you how many residential rehab beds they delivered.

David Davis: On a point of order, President, question time is not an opportunity to attack the opposition. That is what the minister is proceeding to do. The government has been in power for 10 years now, and she is seeking to –

The PRESIDENT: Thanks, Mr Davis. I uphold the point of order to the degree that answering the question is not an opportunity to have a crack at the opposition, but I was not sure if the minister was going to. I just heard the start of the answer.

Ingrid STITT: What I was actually in the process of doing was contrasting the approach between those on this side of the chamber –

David Davis: On a point of order, President, the minister has just now indicated that her task is to contrast, but her task is actually to answer questions, and she should answer the question rather than go on a debate –

The PRESIDENT: I will call the minister to the question.

Ingrid STITT: I thank Mr Davis for the advice, but I am very clear about what my priorities are as Minister for Mental Health in this area of policy. We have taken a harm reduction approach every single day that we have been in office, and we have doubled the number of rehabilitation beds that are available across our state, because what we understand is that the scourge of addiction is something very confronting for those individuals that are faced with that situation and their families and loved ones. That is why we have doubled the number of rehab beds and withdrawal beds in the state, not just in metropolitan Melbourne but across regional Victoria, because one of the hardest things when you are actually putting your hand up and asking for support is the reality that you have to travel hundreds of kilometres to be able to get a residential rehab bed. So we have doubled the number of beds, and in fact we have invested since 2014 $3 billion to expand our drug treatment offering as a state, and that at the heart of it has had harm minimisation as the guiding principle. But of course rehab beds are only part of the system that we deliver. We have a number of different counselling services across the state. We have prevention programs. And the reality is that we treat more than 40,000 Victorians a year with AOD treatment services, including residential rehabilitation facilities.

Since coming into this portfolio a key focus of mine has been to make sure that we are reducing harm in other areas as well. It is why we have added an additional $95 million in investment to tackle the statewide drug harm situation. It is why we are introducing pill testing into Victoria – and the Assembly will be debating that bill this week. It is why we are absolutely serious about providing additional treatment services for Victorians who are struggling with, for example, opioid addiction, through additional and expanded pharmacotherapy treatment. So I do actually reject the premise of Ms Crozier’s question. We are doing a lot in this area and will continue to do so.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:09): Minister, there are significant concerns from a number of people, including the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, and my supplementary question to you is: there are no adult residential rehabilitation beds in Mildura, Shepparton, Warrnambool, Frankston or the Latrobe Valley; Minister, why are some of Victoria’s most vulnerable going without, despite the government’s $1 billion mental health tax?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:10): I am very glad that Ms Crozier has raised Mildura and the Latrobe Valley, because these are examples of record investment by our government. I was up in Mildura just about a month or so ago advising the community there that we had picked the location for, wait for it, a residential alcohol and drug treatment service in Mildura.

To my earlier point, we do not want to have a situation where Victorians have to travel hundreds and hundreds of kilometres in order to get a residential rehab bed. That is why we have delivered investment for a new facility in Mildura. It is why we have delivered an investment in Traralgon in both the youth space and the adult space. It would actually serve the opposition a little better if they got their facts straight. In fact the member for Mildura has written to me about the Mildura facility, asking me to commit to talking to the community about the location. So if Ms Crozier was tuned into that, she would know.