Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fisher for moving this motion and I also recognise the words of the member for Fremantle. More than a million Australians have sought mental health treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last month alone, there's been a 14 per cent increase in MBS items for mental health. These figures are both shocking and reassuring. They're reassuring because they show that perhaps more Australians are aware of their mental health and are seeking the support that they need. And this is important because our mental wellbeing is just as important as our physical wellbeing and early intervention and pre-emptive actions can be important in preventing an individual developing a mental health crisis. But these figures are also shocking because they're another indicator that the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 are having a profound impact on the mental wellbeing of Australians.

While Australia has been doing a fantastic job in flattening the COVID-19 curve, we must also continue to flatten the mental health curve. Individuals, including Professor Anthony Jorm, from the University of Melbourne, and Professor Patrick McGorry, executive director of Orygen, have written about the way in which the threat posed by mental ill health follows a very similar pattern to that posed by the COVID-19 virus itself. Professor McGorry wrote in an Australian article earlier this year:

In the case of mental health, the whole population has been exposed to the harmful mental impacts of the pandemic to some degree and this will result for the majority in a relatively mild to moderate level of anxiety and stress for which support, self-help and the passage of time are all that is necessary. However, a substantial minority of Australians will develop a new episode of mental ill-health to a degree that justifies and requires professional help.

In order to flatten the mental health curve for all of Australia, we need primary prevention strategies that ensure we focus on mental health conditions being developed and secondary preventions focused on stopping an existing condition from progressing or deteriorating. This is something that is understood and recognised by the government, as the member for Fisher has pointed out.

The estimated health portfolio expenditure for mental health services and suicide prevention in 2021 will be a record $5.7 billion. This includes vital support in primary prevention strategies, like $19 million to extend the national suicide prevention and support program, which funds key organisations such as R U OK? and Suicide Prevention Australia. There's another $6.9 million for a targeted awareness campaign, promoting digital mental health services with a key focus on the government's mental health gateway Head to Health, and there's $5 million over 2021 to develop and deliver a letter and fact sheet about mental health information to be sent to parents, carers and guardians of school aged children because it is vital that parents know—it is vital that everybody knows—you shouldn't just be stoic. Sometimes you do need to get help.

Of course, the government is also prioritising the mental health of young Australians with a record $630 million investment to expand the headspace network and reduce waiting times. Headspace plays a fundamental role in primary prevention through its risk awareness strategies, community engagement and targeted strategies to at-risk minority groups, and it does vital work in secondary prevention through its counselling services. One further initiative announced by the government in this budget was an additional $100 million to provide an additional ten Medicare subsidised psychological therapy sessions each year, which is incredibly important in supporting individuals with mental health conditions who require longer-term treatments to effectively assist them.

The government is going to continue its vital work to reduce the lives lost to suicide. Mental health and suicide are one of the government's highest health priorities, and the government's budget in 2021 emphasises this. Whether it's World Mental Health Day, which we're recognising today, or R U OK? Day or headspace Day, what matters most, as the member for Fremantle said, is that we are having conversations and looking out for our own mental health wellbeing and the mental wellbeing of loved ones every day. Governments and healthcare providers have a role to play in this space, but so do all of us. When it comes to primary prevention, we can all be doing something. What COVID has shown us this year is that our mental wellbeing is incredibly important and that compassion can be incredibly effective.

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