Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. How is the government improving support for people with mental illness in our local communities?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton for his question and for his advocacy on behalf of people with mental illness. In this budget the government is delivering a major funding boost to community mental health services. In fact, $260 million extra will go to community mental health services over the next five years. This, of course, is part of our $2.2 billion investment in mental health reform that will provide much-needed support to thousands of Australians who have been waiting so long for that increase. In fact, in the community mental health area, we expect around 35,000 extra Australians and their carers will get support as a result of these improvements. I think all of us are aware that people with severe mental illness have very low workforce participation and many of them are also extremely socially isolated. This budget tackles both of these issues head on.

Just last Monday I was pleased to go up to Bendigo with the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing and the member for Bendigo. We went to the Personal Helpers and Mentors service in Bendigo, which is run by St Luke's. It is a great service. It is one of 175 Personal Helpers and Mentors services around Australia, and it is delivering services to people with very severe mental illness in our community. One of the people that I spoke with there indicated to me how much he appreciated the support he gets, but he said he wanted to make sure that other people like him are getting that support.

As a result of the government's investment in community mental health in this budget, we will be able to provide 425 additional personal helpers and mentors who will be able to work intensively with people who have severe mental illness living in the community. This will mean helping people to find employment. It might mean helping them reconnect with their families or doing some of the day-to-day tasks that most of us take for granted that people with severe mental illness often find very difficult—making sure their rent gets paid, making sure they get their shopping done or planning and getting to interviews and appointments with medical professionals. These tasks often present very serious barriers to people with mental illness, and we note that personal helpers and mentors provide excellent support to help people address these difficulties.

We also know that it is often the case that people with severe mental illness are very isolated and alone. Once again at St Luke's one of the people we spoke to said to me that he would often go for weeks at a time without speaking to another human being. That was of course before he was attending St Luke's on a regular basis and before he got a personal helper and mentor himself. It is as a result of their care that he is now getting the support he needs. It is the case that far too many people with severe mental illness do not look for the support they need from the medical profession. As a result of these personal helpers and mentors, they are able to get the support they need. This government is delivering the long-term investment in mental health and the long-term strategy that people deserve. (Time expired)