Television interview with Assistant Minister McBride and Ashleigh Gillon, Sky News Afternoon Agenda - 17 October 2024

Read the transcript of Assistant Minister McBride's interview with Ashleigh Gillon on mental health.

The Hon Emma McBride MP
Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
Assistant Minister Rural and Regional Health

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ASHLEIGH GILLON, SKY NEWS: Building resilience, community, and connections – that's the theme of National Mental Health Month, which is this month. Part of the Federal Government's focus on improving mental health outcomes is making care more accessible and affordable. Joining us now for more on this is the Assistant Minister for Mental Health, Emma McBride. Appreciate your time. Thank you, Minister. That all sounds great, making these services more accessible, more affordable, but how are you doing that? We've all heard nightmare stories about waiting times to get in to see mental health specialists in this country. What are we grappling with in terms of demand for services versus supply of helpers?

ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Demand for services is growing, Ashleigh, and I see that in communities right around the country. Distress is increasing driven by the long lag of the COVID-19 pandemic, by natural disasters, by the pressures of day-to-day living. And how we're responding to that is by, for young people, expanding and strengthening headspace networks. Just this week, I opened the 163rd headspace in Edmondson Park in southwest Sydney, and the day before, a new headspace service in Kiama, bringing free walk-in mental health support to young people right around the country. And to boost workforce, we've invested in the headspace Early Career Program to provide placements and career development and opportunities for early career mental health professionals with the right kind of support and supervision to create a stronger workforce and to reduce wait times.

GILLON: Six months on from the Bondi Junction attacks, I see a new poll is suggesting that tragedy actually had a real impact in terms of awareness right around the country of the impact of illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. What are you doing for those on the severe end of the mental health crisis? People who are perhaps unlikely to walk into the sorts of clinics you're talking about that are voluntary.

MCBRIDE: Those are the type of clinics that I used to work in. I'm a specialist mental health pharmacist and I worked in the in-patient acute mental health units, where I'd see people brought in by ambulance or by police. And what we're doing is introducing now, for people living with more moderate to severe conditions, Medicare Mental Health Centres, where they'll have wraparound support and care by social workers, by psychologists, by psychiatrists. And understanding the demand and the workforce shortages, we've boosted the funding in those services by $30 million to create a national network of specialist psychologists and psychiatrists available. So, working to reduce distress in the community and also to make sure that we've got services that are designed for people living with more severe to complex or enduring mental ill health.

GILLON: When we look at the causes of this problem, you mentioned the COVID lag. You mentioned natural disasters, which can have real impacts on communities and individuals dealing with those. The recent headspace National Family Mental Health Survey found that a whopping 8 in 10 family members are concerned about their young person's mental health. When we look at young people specifically, how would you characterise the mental health of the young people in this country? And as the minister responsible, do you expect regulations around limiting social media use, as one example, would have any sort of real impact on that?

MCBRIDE: I was with Jason, the CEO of headspace, in Canberra last week as we marked national headspace day. And I think what we saw in that report reflects the experiences, from what I've heard from parents and educators right across the country, and there are many drivers of that distress including social media. The Government is working very closely with the states and territories on social media. The Prime Minister has committed to introducing legislation before the end of the year. I've worked with the Minister for Communications on a ministerial online harms committee. We've heard directly from young people about their own experiences. And particularly right now, when students across the country are taking their final exams in New South Wales, the HSC, we know this can be another driver of distress. So we need to make sure that when we do introduce the legislation, that we get it right, which is why we're listening very widely, and to make sure that we put the guardrails in place that protect young people, while also preserving the connection and information that young people can gain from being connected through social and digital media.

GILLON: Emma McBride, I appreciate you making the time. Thank you.

MCBRIDE: Thanks, Ashleigh.

GILLON: And if you or anyone you know is feeling distressed, you can call Lifeline. That's on 13-11-14, 1-3-1-1-1-4.

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