Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Recently I joined the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and the member for Macarthur at the opening of the Medicare Mental Health Centre in Campbelltown. The service is beautiful, calm, welcoming place, close to Campbelltown railway station and the bus interchange, and there's parking in proximity. The service is open seven days a week, and, like all Medicare Mental Health Centres, it has a range of support professionals including peer support workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and wrap around supports when you walk in. Medicare Mental Health Centres are free. All you need is your Medicare card, and they're available for you to walk in and find support straight away.

The Campbelltown centre is also special because it's the 50th Medicare Mental Health Centre that has opened in Australia and the 44th opened since the Albanese government was elected in 2022. For anyone needing support, there is also a Medicare Mental Health Centre located in Liverpool on Macquarie Street. All the details are on the website if you need them.

I'm looking forward to joining the assistant-minister in opening our own Medicare Mental Health Centre in Werriwa in 2026. No-one has worked harder than the members for Hindmarsh and Dobell to provide support for Australians seeking help with their mental health. The Albanese government is investing an historic $1.1 billion over a range of incentives to deliver new and expanded mental health services across the whole of your life, working with state and territory governments to provide affordable and often free support as soon as possible. In 2025, as part of the $41.1 billion mental health election commitment, we committed to boosting the number of Medicare Mental Health Centres by 30, taking the total to 91. In my part of the world, my opponents did not even match this commitment to deliver any more community based mental health services.

As part of the Albanese government's plan to strengthen Medicare with this historic $1.1. billion commitment, people will be able to access mental health support whatever age they are. This includes: the 91 mental health centres and multidisciplinary teams; the 20 perinatal mental health centres delivering support for new and expectant parents; the 17 Medicare Mental Health Kids Hubs, providing children and families with behavioural, social, emotional and wellbeing support; and the 203 headspace services supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 12 to 25. Many of these services are already up and running.

Early in 2026, the Albanese government will be rolling out the new National Early Intervention Service. The service will deliver free mental health phone and online support from trained professionals, and it is expected that will support over 150,000 people each year. We know that the sooner someone finds support that is right for them the sooner they start feeling better. It's not only for them but for their families, work colleagues and, of course, the community as a whole. Providing more free public mental health services for Australians with different levels of need will help relieve the pressures on subsidised services provided by private psychologists.

We're also building the mental health workforce. This includes 4,000 psychology scholarships, internships and training places. This is complemented by our work to professionalise the peer workforce, because we value lived experience. Next year we're establishing a new peer workforce association and undertaking a census of the peer workforce. As we expand the range of free services, the Medicare Mental Health phone line—which is 1800595212 if you want to ring them—and the website medicarementalhealth.gov.au will help Australians find the service that is right for them.

In Mental Health Month in 2024, the assistant minister and I opened the new headspace at Edmondson Park in the electorate of Werriwa. The centre is located in the shopping centre, across the road from the Edmondson Park railway and bus terminal, and it's been kicking goals since then. The Youth Reference Group is made up of more than 14 amazing young people. They are working hard to ensure that the needs of all young people in the area are addressed by the centre. Recently, they held a trivia night to raise funds for the work of headspace. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the event, but I'm told the night was a fantastic success with many in attendance. I'd like to thank the Youth Reference Group again for their insight and hard work and also all the staff at the Edmondson Park headspace. You're providing so much, much-needed support to our community. The work they're doing is not just in the centre. They also do significant outreach to several high schools in our community.

I note that the shadow minister, in his reply speech in the House, claimed that the government was not delivering on early intervention services. As the minister said in her speech, we're establishing the new National Early Intervention Service, and that will be up and running early in January next year, providing phone and online mental support. The shadow minister also stated that our government was simply rebadging Liberal government projects. That couldn't be further from the truth. Under the Liberals, fewer than 10 pop-up Head to Health centres were established. We are now working towards 91 Medicare mental health systems, providing all services from peer support to psychologists and psychiatrists as a free, one-stop shop if you need that help. We've also established the virtual network to ensure every centre has access to psychologists and psychiatrists when they need it.

I'm proud to be part of a government that is doing so much to support the health of Australians, with historic levels of funding for Medicare improving access and costs for GP visits and especially more opportunities for bulk-billed services, cheaper medicines from 1 January next year and more than $1 billion invested in mental health support. The mental health support ranges from telephone to walk-in Medicare mental health centres and headspace, and the government is training more support workers, psychologists and peer support workers to ensure that all Australians in the future have an option to improve their lives, support their families and do wonders for our community.

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