Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is in the midst of a mental health crisis, and the statistics are stark. One in two Australian adults will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. Three thousand Australians will take their own lives each year as a result of mental ill health. In South Australia, one in five people experience a mental illness every year, and 43 per cent of South Australians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime. While we wouldn't think twice about seeking professional care for a physical injury, too often we treat mental illness with an unseriousness we wouldn't treat the common cold with. That's why Mental Health Month is so important in bringing awareness to an issue which has, for decades, been under prioritised when it comes to government support.

I've worked in and around the mental health space all my life. I've run primary mental health services across South Australia, including in rural and remote areas. I've run primary health services for SA Health in the city, as well as homelessness services for Catherine House and Vinnies. And I've witnessed firsthand the emotional and financial toll that a mental illness can take on a person's life if the mental illness is left unchecked, untreated.

The effects of mental ill health are felt far beyond the individual sufferer. It can have devastating impacts for the family and the community. The factors known to have a causative link to mental ill health are many and various, including unemployment, homelessness, financial insecurity, family and domestic violence, and significant life events. But a lack of accessible and affordable mental health services in the local community can mean a short-term episode becomes a long-term, serious, debilitating illness.

Poor access to mental health services can be due to a range of issues: limited mental health workforce, continuing stigma around mental illness, a lack of collaboration across the different types of mental health services, an unequal concentration of mental health services in metropolitan areas to the detriment of regional and rural areas, and the high demand for mental health services where there is an undersupply of workers.

But there is hope. Hope exists in a government that is prepared to take your mental health seriously—a government that is prepared to acknowledge the fact that a mentally unhealthy Australia means a socially and economically poorer Australia, a government that is prepared to support the most health-vulnerable members of our community by making access to mental health services easier and more affordable, and a government that will continue Labor's proud legacy of ensuring that health care and mental health care is a right and not a privilege.

That's why, as part of our Medicare plan, the Albanese Labor government has committed to investing an historic $1.1 billion to expand and enhance mental health services right across this country. The numbers speak for themselves: 91 Medicare mental health centres, 20 perinatal mental health centres, 17 Medicare mental health kids hubs and 203 headspace services.

In my electorate of Boothby, we have a very well-utilised headspace service helping young Australians between the ages of 12 and 25 navigate their mental health challenges. I visited there recently myself, and the staff do an absolutely excellent job, including one-off, walk-in visits.

In December this year we will open a mental health kids hub in the Marion GP Plus centre, providing crucial early intervention support and resources for children and their families. A Medicare mental health centre will also be established in Marion, providing a free walk-in service delivered by a multidisciplinary team. Work on a perinatal health centre is currently underway in Elizabeth, in northern Adelaide, and we're expecting at least one more in Adelaide as part of Labor's 2025 election commitment. This will support the mental health and wellbeing of mothers and families during and after their pregnancies, a particularly vulnerable time.

These mental health services are in addition to the other facilities currently being built in Boothby. We have a statewide eating-disorder centre which will be established at the Repat hospital in Daw Park, at the very heart of Boothby, providing round-the-clock treatment and outpatient services for those living with an eating disorder. Now close to completion, we're rebuilding and expanding the inpatient mental health service at the Margaret Tobin Centre at Flinders Medical Centre. When completed, it will be able to accommodate 48 mental health beds, including 12 brand-new beds up in the psychiatric intensive care unit.

The Albanese Labor government will also invest $500 million in 20 youth specialist care centres across the country to support young Australians with complex mental health needs, including personality disorders, eating disorders and early psychosis. This is part of the government's plan to fill what the experts have called 'the missing middle', ensuring that young Australians whose mental health issues warrant neither a GP visit nor hospitalisation can also receive specialist care.

On 1 January next year, the government will launch the National Early Intervention Service, which will provide over-the-phone and online support from trained mental health professionals for those with mild to moderate mental health needs. It will be a free service. You won't need a referral. You won't have to pay a gap fee. We're expecting that this service will support around 150,000 people every year.

The Albanese Labor government's historic $1.1 billion package to fund mental health services across this country reflects Labor's long-held commitment to the idea that an affordable and accessible public health service is for the benefit of all Australians and our community.

Our expansion of mental health services under Medicare will relieve the pressure on subsidised private psychologists, allowing them to work more efficiently and effectively to support those with moderate to high mental health needs. To relieve this pressure further, the government will build up our mental health workforce by funding more than 4,000 psychology scholarships, internships and training places. This will mean more psychology places at universities and more training places for mental health professionals, including for psychiatrists, psychologists and peer workers. The government will also professionalise the peer workforce, establishing a new peer workforce association and undertaking a census of all peer workers. When I worked in mental health for SA Health, we were the first to implement peer workers, and it's great to see this important skilled workforce valued appropriately. They've proven to be invaluable in providing peer support and advocacy across a range of mental health settings.

Significantly, from 1 November this year, the government will expand the eligibility for bulk-billing incentives to all Medicare patients and will create an additional incentive payment for general practices that choose to fully bulk-bill, because the GP is often the first point of contact for those seeking professional advice on a mental health issue. We aim for nine out of 10 GP visits to be bulk-billed by 2030. Mental health can be treated as a chronic disease, and GPs are a really important part of maintaining good mental health and preventing relapses, but only if they're affordable and only if the medications are affordable.

The metaphor of 'the black dog' is often invoked when speaking of depression, one of the most common mental illnesses in our community. The black dog is a companion who is extremely difficult to shake off. It can wake you up in the morning. It disturbs your sleep at night. It literally dogs your every move, casts a shadow on every activity, drains your joy, drains your energy and makes everything a little darker, a little greyer, a little more difficult. It craves your attention during the quieter moments of your day and barks even more loudly when it thinks your attention has strayed. We all have friends, family and colleagues—maybe even ourselves—who have been stalked by their own black dog. It's not easy, but it is possible to keep the black dog at bay.

Many in our community live satisfying and productive lives, managing mental illness as a chronic disease. That's why the Albanese Labor government's groundbreaking investment in a national infrastructure of mental healthcare workforce and services is so vital. It will ensure that all Australians—no matter their age, no matter the severity of their condition, no matter their financial circumstances—are able to get the mental health support they need whenever they need it and wherever they need it. Thank you.

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