Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Hunter for bringing forward this motion on men's health and men's mental health. Last year I had the privilege of being at the launch of Movember's annual report into men's mental health, The real face of men's health. It is a report well worth reading. I commend the work that Movember have been doing for a very long period of time and the inroads more recently they have made into men's health and men's mental health.

The report, though, is confronting. We stood in that room, and Mark Butler gave a very impassioned speech. I followed him with a similar speech about men's health and men's mental health and how we all agree in this place that we need to do more in relation to both of those, that we should work together and that good, healthy men become part of a good, healthy society. I spoke about domestic violence as well. Mentally healthy men are in healthy relationships, and it makes a difference.

Despite all agreeing in a bipartisan fashion that this should occur, governments on all sides have failed over a long period of time in relation to the funding for men's mental health. In this year's budget—and I commend Labor for doing this—there was an additional $550 million for women's health. That takes the contribution in this budget to nearly $900 million for the National Women's Health Strategy 202-2030, but the former figure is from this year alone. Men's health is $70 million. It is a fraction of the funding for women's health. There is something significantly wrong there. We need to look at that as a government and not point fingers but say, 'What are we going to do to improve that outcome and the outcomes of men's health going forward?'

Let's face it: we've probably got ourselves to blame in some circumstances. We live hard sometimes. We don't look after ourselves. When something does go wrong, we say, 'It'll go away, and, if it doesn't go away, I'll get to the doctor's sooner or later.' We take one those old adages. 'Toughen up. Have a cup of concrete,' et cetera. We need to change that way of thinking.

More importantly, I do want to talk about the suicide rates in this country. Three out of four suicides are men. That's nearly 3,000 a year.

I'll get through this. I've got it. After the last election, I met up with a mate and had a beer. I'd known him for 25 years. We had a laugh, and, a week later, he took his life. I didn't see it. I didn't see it coming. We need to be able to identify these things and be able to talk to each other as men. He was a great bloke—ex-copper, lawyer. He had everything going for him, kids—everybody loved him. He was the first one to offer his hand. He was the quintessential Aussie larrikin, but, as a lawyer, he was a consummate professional.

That's the problem. We won't talk to each other. I sat with him a week before, and all he talked about was me winning the election. I wish he'd talked about how he was struggling, because we could have made a difference. So we have to look after each other. We have to do more. I commend the member for Hunter for bringing this on. Thank you.

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