Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Can I start by thanking my friend the member for Monash for her work in the mental health space and for advocating for better mental health outcomes for her community. On Sunday 9 November 2025, I joined a small group of like minded people as we participated in a five-kilometre walk through beautiful Linear Park located in my electorate of Sturt. The walk was organised by Rotary Australia as part of a national initiative to 'lift the lid' on talking about mental health to raise awareness of mental health across Australia, with funds raised as part of the initiative going towards mental health research and noting that, in 2025, $500,000 has been raised as part of the Lift the Lid walks.

My Lift the Lid walk was championed by the Magill Sunrise Rotary Club, and I acknowledge Lindsay Davis and his team for their efforts in putting the morning together. Lindsay and his colleagues at the Magill Sunrise Rotary Club recognised that now, more than ever, we need to break down the stigma that continues to plague our society so that people are more comfortable discussing and seeking help for mental health issues. The Lift the Lid walk held in Sturt was held on a beautiful, fresh morning, with everyone in purple T-shirts and no-one racing to finish the walk first but everyone simply walking together to talk to each other, to provide company for each other and to ask how everyone was doing. Unsurprisingly, everyone that I walked with was dealing with a mental health challenge of some degree. This is not weakness; this is life.

The Albanese Labor government is determined to provide mental health help to Australians by delivering more mental health services in communities across this country, including a Medicare mental health clinic in Sturt, which will offer free, walk-in mental health support services. When the Sturt clinic opens, it will be one of more than 90 mental health centres operating across Australia and part of the government's historic plan to strengthen Medicare with a $1.1 billion commitment to deliver new and expanded mental health services to Australians. In addition, the $1.1 billion investment will provide 58 new, upgraded or expanded headspace services, taking the number to over 170. It will also provide 20 youth specialist care centres for young people with complex mental health needs and eight new perinatal mental health centres to help new parents deal with the challenges of parenting their precious newborn babies.

But these centres and services cannot operate successfully without the people to operate them, which is why the government is also facilitating more than 1,200 training places for mental health professionals and peer workers. This is in addition to other initiatives to build the mental health workforce, with more than 4,000 psychology scholarships, internships and training places available. Importantly, from early in 2026, the Albanese Labor government will also roll out a new National Early Intervention Service, which will deliver free phone and online mental health support from trained professionals. It's estimated that this service will provide support to more than 150,000 people each year.

During my campaign for the seat of Sturt, I met a young police sergeant, Kyria, who had just finished her night shift and who I, unfortunately, woke up when I knocked on her door in the suburb of Dernancourt. Kyria told me that almost every call-out she attended on each and every shift was related to mental health either caused organically or because of drug addiction. A paramedic, Josh, who I met when I was doorknocking in Campbelltown, told me that almost every call-out he attended as part of his work serving the community was caused by mental health, with some people with mental health conditions calling an ambulance 50 to 60 times a year.

The impact of mental health on individuals, on families and on communities is enormous and is growing. That is why, since coming to government, we have worked tirelessly to make mental health care more accessible for everyone—because mental health is health. Without mental health, we don't have health and, without health, we cannot contribute, we don't grow productivity, we don't grow our economic prosperity and we don't move forward. Economically successful and prosperous communities are underpinned by physically and mentally healthy populations. Compassionate, dignified and effective care and services that are accessible and affordable are essential to the success of our economy and of our country, and this government will continue to invest to provide that framework to Australians.

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