…Today I join with my colleagues to congratulate the government on its highly focused and targeted approach to mental health funding in the 2017 budget to broaden the scope and accessibility of mental health services and help to address this disturbing figure. This government has consulted with the sector, asking those delivering mental health services on the front line where the service gaps are. And now we’re addressing them—an additional $80 million for mental health services for those not eligible for the NDIS; an additional $11.1 million to prevent suicide in the very locations crying out for more help; $50 million to assist our Defence Force members, veterans and families; $9.5 million to expand mental health first-aid training in communities that need it most; $9.1 million to support rural mental health services and the appointment of the first National Rural Health Commissioner; and an additional $15 million for mental health research benefiting organisations like the Thompson Institute—to which my colleague, the member for Fisher, also referred—which is in our home region of the Sunshine Coast…’
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