Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this month, I was invited to attend headspace Liverpool in my electorate of Fowler to celebrate the national day of support for mental health and wellbeing of young Australians. It was great to speak to many young people in the room who shared their real experience of the impact of the unprecedented COVID lockdown measures on their mental health. Over the past 12 months, the centre has provided support to almost 5,000 young people, compared to 2,644 in other headspace centres across the country.

In terms of the psychological distress that was measured, our young people were two points higher than the nation. But, with the support of the centre, many of the young people in that room, predominantly from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, were able to manage their lives in a meaningful way. The COVID pandemic is considered one of the most isolating periods in modern history. Regardless of your stance on vaccines or the physical impacts of coronavirus, we have all experienced the effects of the pandemic on our mental health in some way.

As someone who lived through the lockdown, it's hard to describe the level of stress and anxiety that I experienced and that my community also went through. In the Fowler electorate, there's only one headspace centre, which is based in Liverpool, and the centre acknowledges that serving our large, diverse electorate, from Liverpool right across to Fairfield city, is a challenge. There are about 150 headspace centres around Australia, and, between 2021 and 2022 alone, headspace has supported more than 700,000 young Australians and has also provided 4.4 million services since its establishment in 2006.

In the recent budget announcement, the government has allocated $7.6 million for New South Wales under the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan and provided Victoria with $36.9 million, while other states and territories have been provided with single-digit figures. This allocation is not fair. For a government that claims they will make this a fair parliament and govern fairly for all Australians, providing a bulk of mental health funding for just one state is anything but fair. Mental health is a real and huge challenge for all Australians. I call on the government to form a fairer approach when it comes to issues like mental health and funding allocations.

According to Liverpool headspace, to assist young people to manage their mental health, programs such as the individual placement and support programs, or IPS, should be made available as they're paramount for good mental health outcomes. They're desperate to have the program at the centre to assist young people. I call on the government to provide this resource to Liverpool headspace.

I would like to acknowledge the many other organisations in my electorate of Fowler that play a vital role in supporting the vulnerable in our multicultural community, especially our youth.