Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand to speak on the motion moved by my friend the member for Hunter. And I thank the member for Indi; we need to have female voices in this space as well. Can I say how important it is that the Albanese Labor government has appointed a special envoy for men's health, bringing these issues to the forefront so that we're no longer afraid to speak about them.

Too often, men's health is swept under the rug. Blokes are told to man up and stay tough. 'You don't need to talk about that. You don't need to talk about your health.' Self-medication is a problem. Guys drown their sorrows or seek answers at the bottom of a bottle of bourbon. I've had friends who've taken this route. I know where it goes. I had a look at it myself. It's scary. It's isolating. And it needs to change. More and more boys and men are feeling socially isolated than ever before. We're seeing this play out with real-world impacts as more men and boys give into sadness and the anger that comes with their social isolation. This is making men's health figures worse, not better. Here are some quick stats from Suicide Prevention Australia, an organisation which the member pointed out. In 2023, men accounted for 70 per cent of deaths by suicide. This is a statistic as scary as it is shocking. It is not just men's lives that are ruined by that but also the lives of everybody they touched. This is even more stark when you consider that, for some groups of men and boys, the statistics are even worse.

In 2023, suicide was the second-leading cause of death of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. Many don't know, but, in culture, if a body is not interred immediately, it calls out. So you can end up with suicide groups within a single community. These are devastating and can lead to months and months of sorry business. In 2022, suicide overtook land transport accidents as the leading cause of child death. This shows that the age-old approach of, 'She'll be right, mate,' is not working for many boys and men across the country.

It's not just suicide though; men's health is falling behind on all measures. I can guarantee that, if you stop to think about it, you know one bloke who thinks they can just tough it out. You might be the bloke who thinks you can just tough it out. They won't see a doctor about the pain. They won't go to get stitched up. They don't talk about being lonely. They won't do proactive testing for things like prostate cancer. One of my friends is currently going through cancer treatment. He found out because he saw his GP. They got it early. I get to keep my friend now. If he'd have taken that old school route, they'd have caught it when the symptoms arrived, and it would have been too late.

There is no more space for stigma, keeping men away from the health care they need, especially as getting health care when you need it can be tough in regional and remote places at the best of times. We need men to step up, like the member for Hunter has, and break down the stigma men have about opening up about their health. Men need to have that conversation with other men they respect.

The Albanese Labor government is serious about building a stronger, fairer and healthier Australia for everyone, and men's mental health is a big part of that. Since coming to government, we have been delivering real support to men and boys by strengthening Medicare and investing $32 million in targeted men's health initiatives. This has included $11.3 million for Movember. Not everyone likes the moustaches, but Movember is a good cause. It trains 60,000 primary health workers and encourages men to visit the doctor. As well, there is $20.7 million for grassroots mental health support, including expanded funding for men's sheds, Ahead of the Game, Healthy Male and the Danny Frawley Centre. Let's not forget Labor's investment of $8.5 billion in strengthening Medicare and $1 billion for mental health, including more headspace centres and more trained mental health professionals.

Locally, that has translated already into an operational Medicare urgent care clinic in the south of Cairns—soon one will be open in the northern suburbs as well—and a headspace Plus so that young man can get the help that they need before they head too far down that very, very dark road. I congratulate the member for the bill. I thank everyone who is speaking on it here today.

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