Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had the honour of meeting with Tony Holland, who is the CEO of OzHelp, earlier this week. I just want to share with the House the amazing work that the OzHelp Foundation does. It was established in 2001 to provide mental health support services within the building, construction and mining industries, particularly focusing on the needs of men. The services are provided in workplace settings.

OzHelp are funded by the Department of Health, the Northern Territory government and industry partners in the Territory to deliver work. They have been in the Northern Territory since 2008. They provide services in Darwin, Katherine, Kakadu and Alice Springs, but mainly in Darwin. They provide a very important service, as I said, across the sector.

They have what they call a Tradies Tune-Up, which is a 20-minute mobile health screening program delivered on site. It includes physical and mental health screening as well as health promotion. They follow that up in three months with a phone call. Six per cent of the people they see stop smoking, 15 per cent reduce alcohol consumption, 15 per cent speak to a friend or a counsellor about how they are feeling, and 43 per cent see a doctor within three months, with 50 per cent of those doing so directly as a result of attending a Tradies Tune-Up. It is wonderful work that OzHelp are doing.