Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Just over a year ago I had the pleasure of attending with the then Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Mark Butler the official opening of the headspace in Ipswich. It was very popular event and it was not because of Mark's or my charm or good looks on the day. Jharal Yow Yeh, the Brisbane Broncos player, was there and Jharal spoke movingly about his career-threatening injury and how he had sought mental health help from family and friends. He spoke brilliantly that day and inspired the young people on that occasion.

The former federal Labor government invested massively in mental health. In fact we were the first government to ever appoint a minister for mental health. We spent a record $2.2 billion, with $200 million of that establishing 90 headspaces across Australia. Available to young people 12 to 25 years of age, headspace has provided a lot of support for young people living in the Ipswich and Somerset region. Sadly, within the first couple of months, the Ipswich headspace has become one of the busiest headspace centres in the country. One in four young people have experienced a mental health issue this year. That will be the tragedy of mental health problems for young people. It has become a very important issue across this country.

I want to commend Aftercare Ivan Frkovic and Tess Barr for the work they do along with the team at Ipswich headspace. I visited there recently. The work continues. The cause endures and the hope of a cure for mental health problems still lives.

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