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

For Youth Voice In Parliament Week I took part in the Raise Our campaign. This speech was written by a future FNQ leader:

My name is Claudia and I am 16 years old from Cairns.

Right now, young people in regional Queensland are living through a youth mental health crisis. In my community, the nearest psychologist can be a four-hour drive away-200 kilometres that a struggling teenager simply cannot travel. Even when you get there, waitlists can stretch for six months. For a young person in crisis, six months isn't just too long. It's deadly.

One in four young Australians experience mental ill-health, but in regional areas, support is almost impossible to reach. We are told to "speak up" and "be resilient," yet when we do, there is no one there to answer.

If the government truly wants to build a better tomorrow, it must start today-by funding free, local, culturally safe mental health services that are accessible in every community. No young Australian should be told to wait. No one should be left behind because of their postcode.

We don't need promises. We need action. And we need it now.

As someone who has a well-documented struggle with depression in my past, I want to say to Claudia: we hear you; we're listening. The tender for the Medicare mental health clinic in Cairns has been completed, and it will be opening soon. Headspace Plus will be adding another clinician to help with youth mental health. We know that young people in the Far North have undergone a lot of stress lately with Cyclone Jasper and COVID. We have listened and we have acted. Claudia, we are on your side.

See this speech in context