Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am putting my support towards the establishment of a headspace outpost in Lake Macquarie. There is currently a headspace office situated in Newcastle and one situated in Maitland. Lake Macquarie has a large number of young people who need the services of headspace both in the Shortland electorate and in Charlton. A group works out of my office. We look at employment and community issues. A number of key stakeholders are involved in this group. A discussion led to the fact that one thing that is needed in our area is a headspace that young people can access without having to travel great distances to access its services.

It is my understanding that there will be a call for expressions of interest in round 7. That will be released early August next year. They are looking at 10 new centres around the country. What we think would work really well in Lake Macquarie is very similar to what has been announced for the northern Wyong shire where the government has committed to a headspace service in the northern part of Wyong shire, which necessitates young people travelling a great distance, where there is no transport, to access those vital services. There is a high level of young people with mental illness and problems that cannot be resolved by Centrelink but which could be resolved by headspace.

It is a very similar situation in Lake Macquarie. There is a high population of young people who really need to be able to access those services within their local area. There is a high level of mental illness and also issues that could be resolved by headspace. So everybody is coming together to work on the satellite option for Lake Macquarie.

We have a strong working group that is putting together expressions of interest. We are encouraging and getting on board all the key players and putting together a lot of regional data. People within the community are going to support this proposal because there is such a need being generated by young people in the area.