Craig Thomson (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister: will the Prime Minister update the parliament on the government’s commitment to addressing mental health in Australia?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Dobell for his question. Yesterday I had the privilege of walking with Andrew Johns on the beginning of his walk from Newcastle to Sydney. He is doing so in support of mental health and the great challenge which it presents to so many families and communities across Australia, but particularly in support of the great work done by the Black Dog Institute. They do a fantastic job in themselves, together with a number of other non-government organisations that work in this area. In fact, recently my wife, Therese, had Black Dog around at Kirribilli to celebrate some of the work that they are doing and to commend various of the businesses that have been supporting Black Dog as well.

Together with the member for Newcastle, yesterday we began this walk from the middle of Newcastle heading south. I piked after five kilometres; Andrew Johns is going for the rest of the week. But the important thing is this: it is showing and shining a searchlight on this critical and undisclosed disease in our community, mental health. Here we are in the year 2008 and so many people still feel uncomfortable talking about it. Mental health is as real as any other form of so-called physical health and part of the problem of dealing with mental health challenges is to get people talking about them openly, talking about them candidly and talking about them as they would talk about any other disease which is affecting them, their families and their communities. But so much of the problem up until now has been this culture of silence. The time has come to lift the veil and I really commend the courage of Andrew Johns for being part and parcel—in fact a leader—in this community-led process, for causing us to have a genuine national conversation about mental health and about what to do about it. That goes to what to do about depression, bipolar disorder and so many of the other diseases which afflict so many Australians.

On the question of mental health, the government has increased its funding over the four years from 2008-09 to $783 million compared with the $411 million which had been provided from 2004-05 to 2007-08. As part of that the government has a plan for perinatal depression—$85 million over five years. In addition to that there is a $35 million program to support mental health nurses and psychologists training through a particular subsidy for those professions. Government action is critical but community awareness is equally critical. Regrettably, so much of the undisclosed nature of mental health problems, mental illness and depression results in people across this country taking their lives because it remains a great disease of silence.

The great thing about Andrew Johns’s initiative and the great thing about so many other initiatives like it around the country is that we are throwing the doors open on this great scourge across our country. It is when people start talking about it, when you have government programs backing them up and when you have decent community organisations out there supporting them that we can make a difference. So my plea to all men and women of goodwill on all sides of politics—it does not matter which way you vote—is to get behind Andrew Johns’s walk all the way from Newcastle to Sydney. He is due to conclude on Friday. He is going to raise some money but on top of that raise community awareness that this is nothing to be embarrassed about. It is just like any other disease. It is important to talk about it and bring it out into the light. I commend his courage and his leadership in being out at the forefront of this national campaign.

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.