Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is the time of year where we recognise the issue of schizophrenia in our society. This year, carers are the focus. Whilst it is noted that people as diverse as Vincent van Gogh, Virginia Woolf, Sir Winston Churchill, Tolstoy and Beethoven all suffered from mental illness, the reality is that 60 per cent of carers and sufferers in our society have experienced a negative or offensive attitude from others because of mental illness. It is worth noting that as many as 30 per cent of Australian carers do not tell people outside their immediate circle because of a sense of guilt and stigma that they feel is there in society.

In most OECD nations—and they are what we should compare ourselves to—12 to 16 per cent of the health budget is spent on mental health services. In Australia, it is currently less than eight per cent, which is an indictment of both sides of politics. It is historic; it is not created by either political party. The Mental Illness Fellowship notes:

Australia is spending less than 50 per cent of what it should be on a common illness that is largely treatable, with recovery of a good quality of life possible for most people.

Whilst it is not a positive for either side of politics, I do not think that the decision this week to cut $54 million from the Partners in Recovery program, which provides support to people living with severe and persistent mental illness with complex support needs, was a helpful measure. Quite frankly, in a society where as many as 230,000 Australians have schizophrenia affecting four people in their immediate circle, we have some kind of sense about how large an issue this is in our society. Whether it was a principal of a school last week, whether it is a leading Australian journalist, whether it is people who come into my office trying to come overcome issues of Centrelink payments and disability pensions, I get the impression that they are very real figures. We often do not see it but when it affects our families it is a very pressing issue.

I turn to Beautiful Minds, an association in my electorate, and that is appropriate in this week when we are looking at what people are doing around schizophrenia and carers. Established in 2004, Beautiful Minds recently gained the New South Wales Mental Health Matters Award. It is a group in which four of its 10 members are in their 80s, with the oldest being 87. Despite their age, they have paid for excursions, renovated backyards, made submissions to government inquiries, refurbished the local health community centre and helped renovate gardens at Campbelltown Hospital’s Waratah unit. They are capable of very competent fundraising each year, which attracts very significant local support. In this week of schizophrenia awareness I want to recognise the work of carers, the struggles they have, the degree of discrimination they feel they suffer in society and the very dramatic problems they face.

I turn now to the question of youth unemployment, not assisted in my electorate on the far edge of Sydney by the drastic and extreme cuts in rail expenditure by the current government. In Western Sydney, youth unemployment is significantly higher than the state average of 11.8 per cent. It is 15.4 per cent in south-west Sydney. Youth Connections is an organisation which helps at-risk young people in Western Sydney engage with education and employment. Despite the fact that 39 per cent of the people involved with Youth Connections are in the most disadvantaged quintile in the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas, compared to 13 per cent of the total population, it has been indicated that 68 per cent of participants in Youth Connections, which deals with people presenting with complex and often multiple barriers to education, have achieved a positive or progressive outcome. Approximately 6,300, or 62 per cent, of Indigenous participants recorded progressive outcomes.

The internationally recognised SROI evaluation of the Partnership Brokers scheme has indicated that, for every dollar invested by the Australian government, Partnership Brokers have been the catalyst for up to $5.50 of created social value. They have the Schools Business Community Partnership Brokers program, which focuses on building partnerships to help young people achieve year 12 or equivalent qualifications. Yet I am sad to note that support for this very significant and necessary assistance to young people facing unemployment has gone by the board in this budget. They are not going to be assisted by being forced onto the dole for six months. They are not going to be helped by not getting welfare payments for a longer period. They are going to be assisted by brokerage operations like this working between schools and organisations to help them get skills and abilities. That is the way forward, and I recognise the very worthwhile measures that up until now have been undertaken.

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