Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hunter for this motion and congratulate him on his new role as the Special Envoy for Men's Health; I can't think of a better person to do it. Like the member for Hunter, and, I'm sure, all the speakers here today—and I think I'm the only woman, so please forgive me—I want to see the Australian government and Australian society generally do much better when it comes to recognising the health challenges men face, particularly when it comes to mental health. In my life before coming to this place I worked as a midwife, nurse and public health researcher. The mental health of new fathers in particular is something I've paid close attention to, and I'm going to focus on that today.

The health of Australian men often lags behind that of women. This is a problem not just for men. When a man becomes a father, his physical and emotional health directly impacts his children's health—especially in the early years. Yet despite an established system of prenatal care for expectant women, fathers are not included in any systemic health surveillance during the prenatal early parenting period. This is a missed opportunity for men and their families.

Pregnancy is a major stressor on the mental health of expectant fathers. It's well known that around 14 to 16 per cent of new mothers will experience postnatal depression but less well known that between five and 10 per cent of fathers will, too. Research has shown the pregnancy period can be more stressful for men than the period after a child is born. Much like women, the impending birth of a child forces a man to adjust to a change in his perception of himself, the perception of others and the real or perceived pressures of supporting a new family.

This unaddressed mental health strain on men affects their partners, too. Disturbingly, pregnancy is the most likely period for a woman to experience domestic violence for the very first time and for it to escalate for women who have already experienced violence. Yet we do very little as a society to support men's health during their partners' pregnancies. Men are far less likely than women to access health care in general, and, even if they do, they're more likely than women to focus on physical problems and less likely to disclose mental and emotional distress.

The pregnancy period, with its many health check-ups and pre-birth classes, rightly focuses on women. However, it presents an excellent opportunity to engage men about their own health as well as that of their expectant partners. But we're missing this opportunity. In my former life as a rural health researcher, I conducted a large population study in Sweden and found that men with feelings of fear about the forthcoming birth of their children had barely engaged with prenatal services—and when they did they received scant recognition from the health system. When I replicated this research in regional Victoria, I found the same thing: most men were never asked about their health when attending an antenatal health check-up with their partner, nor did they consider reporting their psychological concerns to their usual GP. These men were exposed vicariously to health professionals on many occasions, but the opportunity to engage with them was missed. This is largely because the pregnancy period in Australia is still seen as just women's business. These days we talk about fatherhood as if it were a partnership—a sort of joint experience with the mother during pregnancy, birth and parenting—but this is not the experience of most people. Instead, when men encounter the healthcare system during pregnancy, they overwhelmingly report feeling peripheral at best or marginalised and excluded at worst. This is despite data showing men generally want to be more involved during the pregnancy process. The sidelining of men during pregnancy not only misses a chance at early mental health intervention but exacerbates the gendered nature of parenthood once kids arrive. Everybody loses.

I'm really pleased to hear about the Plus Paternal funding that the member just discussed. But I'd like to say that a father-inclusive model of antenatal care could start with one key policy intervention. Our first step should be the introduction of Medicare-listed mental health checkups for expecting fathers. This could be done without delay. In fact, the UK introduced a similar model all the way back in 2018. Improving men's health and therefore the health of their relationships and the prospects of their children will not be solved by a single intervention. The mental health system is woefully under resourced as it is, and allocating resources to early mental health interventions is a broader goal. This is particularly the case in rural and regional Australia. I thank the member, and I implore the government to get on with this and look at this particular intervention as a really positive step forward.

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