Thursday, 31 October 2024

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (21:54): (1248) My adjournment tonight is addressed to the Minister for Health. Minister, on Tuesday night the report of the Commonwealth inquiry into the COVID-19 response was released by the federal government. The federal Minister for Health Mr Butler described the report as thorough and measured and said, ‘It’s a report that does not pull its punches,’ and he is right. For those who have not read it, I suggest that you do. It makes for sobering reading about the failures of the Andrews government across multiple areas, like hotel quarantine, lockdowns, mask mandates, schools, playgrounds and much more. However, the report makes special mention of the effects these measures had on the mental health of children and youth, saying it is very likely these impacts will be felt for quite some time. The report highlights increases in depression and anxiety and that 20 per cent of senior students experienced mental ill health for the first time. It also highlights the rise of eating disorders for adolescents caused by restrictions and increased reliance on social media. Indeed the very first action recommended in the report is to address critical gaps in health recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, including prioritising greater investment in mental health support for children and young people.

Minister, earlier this week you detailed funding for a number of mental health services, and I am aware that other funding was announced in the 2024–25 budget, including $6.4 million to Orygen – where Mr Andrews was recently made chair – taking their total of state grants to more than $60 million over the past few years. In your presentation to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee earlier this year you stated that the mental health levy will raise over $1 billion in 2024–25, so my question is not about what has been spent previously. The action that I seek is for the minister to tell us: where is the rest of the $1 billion that is being raised this year going, and will you be prioritising young people whose mental health was so disastrously impacted by your government’s COVID-19 response?