ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: October is Mental Health Month. In Australia today, one in five adults and two in five young people experience mental ill health. That's why as a government we're putting mental health in the heart of Medicare and services in the centre of communities. At the election, I was proud to stand alongside the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health, Mark Butler, as we announced a historic $1.1 billion investment in the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians – the largest investment from the Commonwealth in the wellbeing of people right across the country. We're creating a new system of care across the lifespan, meeting people where they're at, Medicare Mental Health.
This month we have opened our 50th Medicare Mental Health Centre. At the election, we committed to grow the number of centres to 91 across the country, and I was proud to stand alongside my colleague and friend, Dr Mike Freelander, as we opened the 50th Medicare Mental Health Centre in Campbelltown in South West Sydney, bringing free walk-in care into the heart of communities where you don't need an appointment, you don't need a referral – all you need to do is walk in. And you'll be met by a peer worker, someone who's walked in your shoes, someone with their own lived experience, the best way often to start your journey to support and recovery.
We're also opening more headspace centres, acknowledging that today, two in five young people or 40 per cent of young Australians experience mental health distress in any year. That's double what it was when headspace was first introduced nearly 20 years ago. So we'll be expanding the number of headspace centres to 203 across the country, bringing support and care closer to young people in their communities in times of need. We'll also be introducing a new model of care, headspace Plus, acknowledging the more complex problems that young people are coming seeking support from headspace for. And for the first time, we'll be introducing new youth specialist care centres for the much more complex and challenging and ongoing mental health challenges that young people experience, including early psychosis and eating disorders. And I know my colleague and friend, Dr Mike Freelander, as a paediatrician, has worked with many young people and families in these types of situations and welcomes the introduction of more free support in communities when people need it.
We're also introducing Kids Hubs for the first time in Australia, a place where parents and children can together receive support under the one roof for children aged 0 to 12 and their parents and caregivers, support for social, developmental, and emotional needs at that critical time, earlier intervention, and in communities much closer to home.
For parents in the perinatal period, new perinatal mental health centres in partnership with Gidget, expanding that network across the country from 10 to 20, understanding that one in five new mothers and one in 10 new fathers experience depression or anxiety in that perinatal period. This is part of creating a new front door to mental health support right across the country, making sure that wherever you live, whatever your needs are, whatever your stage of life, you'll be able to access free walk-in support under Medicare.
I might now hand to my colleague and friend, Dr Mike Freelander, to talk particularly about that opening of the 50th Medicare Mental Health Centre in Campbelltown in South West Sydney just last week.
But before I do, in this month of October, in Mental Health Month, we have opened four more Medicare Mental Health Centres, in Devonport on the North West Coast of Tasmania, in Mount Isa in North West Queensland, in Campbelltown in South West Sydney, and in Redcliffe just outside of Brisbane, bringing support and care closer to home for many Australians, I'll now hand over to you, Dr Mike.
MIKE FREELANDER, MEMBER FOR MACARTHUR: Thanks very much, Emma. I was really excited to be with Emma when we opened the 50th Medicare Mental Health Centre in Campbelltown, in Dumaresq Street, which is a great position, across the road from the train station, surrounded by our largest GP practices, close to our hospital, close to Centrelink. Because in my electorate, healthcare is all about access. And there have been lots of barriers to access to mental health care in the past because of lack of investment, lack of understanding of the mechanisms of getting people access to care. And we have a Health Minister and Assistant Ministers like Emma who really understand those basic things about access to care, proximity to transport, proximity to communities, low cost, and in fact no cost for our walk-in mental health centre.
And we were surrounded by all the other community groups involved in healthcare and mental health care in my community, the headspace group, our PHN, our Odyssey House group for people with problems with addiction, our GP groups. It was really great to be there. It's a huge asset for my community, and it's a real investment by the Albanese Labor Government in healthcare in the electorate of Macarthur, which is on the outskirts of Sydney and has a number of disadvantaged groups there, including a big Indigenous population, increasingly CALD community, and low-income groups. So it's a great asset for Macarthur, and it really was a pleasure to be there as a paediatrician as well as a politician. I'm proud of our government. I think Emma's doing a fantastic job as the Mental Health Minister, and I really look forward to watching the centre grow over time and being involved in its support for particularly the kids and adolescents in my community and the families. Thanks.
MCBRIDE: Thank you. Thanks, Dr Mike.