Susan Templeman
Macquarie · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“The three key focuses of the government's action are, firstly, to disrupt and dismantle border threats to stem the flow of illicit tobacco and vapes to Australia before they make it to our shores; secondly, to enhance detection, disruption and destruction of illicit tobacco and vapes at the border and within the community; and, thirdly, t…”
“AUSTRAC is working with the banks and service providers to shut down the money flows that keep illicit tobacco profitable. Hundreds of accounts have already been closed and payment systems stopped.”
“We need to keep fighting it and not blame each other. Those opposite need to recognise that, just as we supported the steps they made, we need their full support in taking these actions.”
“That's not good enough for participants, it's not good enough for employers and it's not good enough for the economy. That's why these reforms are so important. This is the most significant change to employment services in 30 years. At the heart of these reforms is the end of the one-size-fits-all model.”
“The Commonwealth, states and territories are working together to reverse the equation for organised crime at every step and in every way to make the illicit tobacco trade more risky and less profitable, disrupting the illicit supply chain and shutting down illegal shops. This bill is another step in that process.”
“Mr Robert, at that time, spoke of the actions they were taking and the changes they were making on duty liabilities being paid when tobacco is imported into Australia.”
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“We acknowledged the urgency and significance of the recommendation, and in February 2025 the Albanese Labor government legislated the creation of the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission. It's been up and running since the end of September, and this legislation, the Defence and Veterans' Service Commissioner Bill 2025, builds on that early work to have it up and running as a matter of urgency. For people in my electorate of Macquarie, many of whom have families working at RAAF Base Richmond or RAAF Base Glenbrook or are connected to the Defence Force in many, many other ways, knowing that something was happening was really important.”
“When the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide delivered its final report in September the year before last, it contained 122 recommendations. Recommendation 122, the very last recommendation—last but definitely not least—was that the government establish a new statutory entity to oversee system reform across the whole Defence ecosystem. According to the royal commission, this was its most important recommendation. It went on to say that this recommendation would underpin all the other 121 recommendations that had been made and that it was the most significant action the Australian government could take to address Defence and veteran suicide.”
“My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. What's the Albanese Labor government doing to increase the supply of doctors and encourage more doctors to be GPs? How does training more GPS help strengthen Medicare after a decade of cuts and neglect?”
“We also look forward to local students playing a role in the ceremony. The service will begin with a march through the park to the war memorial, and afterwards there'll be the Lions sausage sizzle, and the historical society will be providing morning tea and a historical display. I'd like to acknowledge the state member for Penrith, Karen McKeown OAM, who's working alongside me and the committee, as well as Penrith mayor Todd Carney. This will be a fantastic community event, with generous support from local businesses to help make it happen.”
“I have seen how valued the local Anzac Day service is for Emu Plains, Emu Heights and Leonay residents, and I'm so pleased to be supporting the community and the 2026 committee in organising this year's ceremony. Both my grandfathers served in and survived World War I, so it's a really important part of my family tradition to remember their sacrifice and those who did not come home, having defended our freedoms. Stepping up to make this community service happen are representatives from the Penrith RSL sub-Branch, Emu Plains Girl Guides, the Lions Club of Emu Plains, Nepean District Historical Society, Emu Plains Junior Rugby League Club, Emu Plains Anglican Church and the National Servicemen's Association, as well as many local residents who volunteered on the committee to ensure that the service at Melrose Park cenotaph runs smoothly.”
“These are big steps forward for women's health, and there's more to come. The new endometriosis, pelvic pain and menopause clinic is opening this month at Winmalee Medical Centre. There are many women who will benefit from their care.”
“Labor went to the 2025 election promising Australians we'd make medicines cheaper, and we're delivering on that promise. On the one-year anniversary of the landmark $792.9 million women's health package, the government's continuing to deliver on the promise of more choice, lower costs and better care for Australian women and girls. More than 600,000 women have accessed more than two million cheaper scripts for contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments—all newly listed on the PBS. We've had the first PBS listing for a new contraceptive in more than 30 years and the first for new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years. These are all making a difference. Over 6,700 women with endometriosis have accessed treatment at PBS prices, saving $4.9 million.”
“Every day, Macquarie residents are saving money when they fill a script covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. From 1 January this year we cut the cost to $25 for a PBS script. This is more than a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines and will save Australians over $200 million each year. A script hasn't been this cheap since 2004. Concession patients pay no more than $7.70 for the rest of this decade, and 60-day prescriptions for around 300 common medicines mean millions of Australians with a stable, ongoing health condition are saving time and money. Since September 2023, Australians have saved more than $350 million on 60-day prescriptions alone. Across Macquarie, cheaper medicines mean patients have saved $11.6 million on more than 1.4 million scripts.”
“Macquarie residents are also benefiting from the additional $8.5 billion to deliver more bulk-billed GP visits, hundreds of nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors. In November 2025, the government created an additional new incentive payment for general practices that bulk-bill every single patient. In Macquarie, there are now 22 bulk-billing practices from the top of the mountains down to the plains and across to the Hawkesbury, including in places like Glossodia. That doesn't mean that we think the job is done. By 2030, we expect to see nine out of 10 GP visits bulk-billed, and we have work to do to address the areas that are not providing the accessibility or affordability that we think people deserve, including around Katoomba.”
“But, when we came to government in 2022, it had never been harder or more expensive to find a GP. Bulk-billing was in freefall after a decade of cuts and neglect to Medicare, which is why we delivered more doctors, more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines, and opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics, including in Penrith, in our first term of government. We committed to opening another 50 urgent care clinics in the 2025 election, including in the Hawkesbury. And I am so proud that last week the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic that my community advocated for began operating in Windsor and is busy seeing patients, bulk-billing them for urgent care and helping to take pressure off the local hospital.”
“Some people are aware that the second half of 2025 was a very challenging year for my family, with both my husband and then my mother surviving potentially life-threatening health incidents. They each survived and in fact are thriving thanks to world-class doctors, surgeons, nurses, physios and rehab specialists, both in hospital and in primary care, who saved their lives and helped them return to good health. It was yet another firsthand reminder for me of how important your health is, not just to the individual, and how health and ill health have repercussions for the whole family and overshadow other parts of your life. For me, it further reinforced how vital our improvements to Medicare are in people getting the health care they need when they need it.”
“I move: That this House: (1) notes: (a) that on 1 January 2026: (i) the pharmaceutical benefits scheme co-payment for general patients was reduced to $25, the lowest price since 2004; (ii) 1800 Medicare was launched, giving Australians access to free 24 hours a day, seven days a week quality health advice over the phone; and (iii) Medicare Mental Health Check-In commenced, providing a new free digital mental health service offering self-help tools; and (b) the Government's record investment in bulk billing which has resulted in: (i) more than 3,300 fully bulk billing general practitioner practices across Australia, with almost 1,250 of these practices previously mixed billing; and (ii) rising bulk billing rates and a stronger Medicare; and (2) acknowledges that only this Government can be trusted to strengthen Medicare.”
“An Australian Police Medal was awarded to Detective Superintendent Darren Beeche for decades of operations involving fighting high-profile criminal activity and supporting victims of crime. The Public Service Medal was received by Kathryn Tidd for disability advocacy in the New South Wales public sector, and, in the military division, the Conspicuous Service Medal has been awarded to Flight Lieutenant Scott McNichol for his leadership as the commander of the air task unit for Operation Beech. Every recipient deserves this recognition, and we thank you for your work.”
“He is a driving force behind the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute, and it's been a privilege to work with him. For her many different contributions to outdoor recreation, Caro Ryan has been honoured. Two OAMs are presented posthumously—one to the late Graham Price, who was deeply involved in the Australian Mushroom Growers Association, Rotary and the Secret Garden and Nursery in Richmond, and one to the late Walter Sutcliffe for services to music as a conductor and organist, including at St Alban's, Leura, and as a founder of the Blackheath Choir Festival. For his decades of extraordinary service to the New South Wales RFS, Greg Frullani receives the Australian Fire Service Medal. Greg is a real hero of Hazelbrook.”
“Among other things, she played a key role in establishing Nepean Creative and Performing Arts High School at Emu Plains. Bronwyn Howes is honoured for her service to primary education, including guiding students at Oakville Public School for more than 20 years. Also from the Hawkesbury, Adrian Peter Read is honoured for his service to gymnastics and the community, which included being the director of Gymnastics Australia and serving on the YMCA. Cathy Gault, who contracted polio as a child but refused to let her wheelchair limit her, is recognised for her extensive disability work, including at the Thorndale Foundation and as a chaplain at Nepean Hospital for 17 years. For his service to conservation and the environment, Dr John Merson receives an OAM.”
“I'm so proud to recognise the 13 recipients of Australia Day honours from Macquarie. Carol Edds and Farah Madon have each become a member of the Order of Australia, an AM. Carol has been recognised for her work in the construction industry and on heritage conservation, including as the founder of the Hawkesbury branch of the National Trust. Architect Farah Madon from Emu Plains, with her approach to supporting dignity, inclusion and independence for all, is recognised for significant service to architecture and to people with a disability. Eight people from Macquarie have each received a medal of the Order of Australia, an OAM. Ann Caro was on her first day of the school year at Mount Druitt's Chifley College Senior Campus when I rang to congratulate her for services to education.”
“It's about your Medicare card, not your credit card. That is life changing for mums, for elderly people—all of us have competing pressures, and it's really hard to tackle all the other challenges of life if your health is letting you down. What we're focused on is making sure that health is the thing that you can get on top of. I really encourage people to support this legislation so that we can have more of our amazing Macquarie registered nurses ready, able and legally allowed to prescribe medications to help take pressure off our GPs and to help support a community that most of them not only work in but live in. I commend this bill to the House.”
“These are just some of the ways in which the Albanese Labor government is looking at availability and affordability of health care. We don't pretend that it's done and dusted. There is always more to do, and I have many parts of my electorate where I want to see more fully bulk-billing GPs and where I want to see greater access to support. I think the thing I'm probably most proud of and have fought hard for for well on 15 years is the access to free and available mental health support. Not only do we now have our online service that began on 1 January, but locally we have headspace for our young people at the top of the mountains in the Hawkesbury and in Penrith. We also have Medicare mental health centres where you can just walk in and say, 'Things are not great,' and you can talk to somebody and find a pathway—all of these things.”
“They now have access to a really key medicine that had not previously been available on the PBS and cost about $930 a script, and, now, it's $25 a script and even less for people with a concession card. It's just $7.70 with a concession card—a price that will remain for the next few years, because we've frozen that concession card price. The medication has a really long name and goes by the brand name Andriga-10, and those who are relying on it will absolutely appreciate the benefit that it has. It's for the treatment of castration-resistant metastatic carcinoma of the prostate—not something that's good to have—but this can absolutely slow the disease, ease the symptoms and help patients feel better for longer.”
“It is hard for any of us to remember, and there are a whole lot of people who weren't even born then who will have no idea why we hark back to it. But the last time that medicines were $25 when you went to get a script was in the early 2000s. It's really significant to see the price reduction. Not many things go down in price in this world, and it's great that we have been able to use that lever to help ease cost-of-living pressures for people. We've also made a really big effort to ensure that these new nurses who are coming on and are able to prescribe things have even more things that they may be equipped to provide. The one that we announced just this weekend was the medication for Australians with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.”
“There's still more to come. We still need to see radiology on site. We will continue to work on all the things as we get feedback from people as they use it. That's another example of the Albanese government doing something really practical to make access to health care not just affordable but free when and where you need it. I'm told by my local sporting groups that they don't want to have to send any of their players there, but when the season starts, they have every expectation that there will be a steady trail of limbs being examined from basketball, soccer, football—you name it. I've mentioned that this piece of legislation also plays in to our cheaper medicines. It is hard for people to remember back to the early 2000s.”
“I'm also very proud that our Hawkesbury Medicare urgent care clinic opened this week. It's fantastic! I got a sneak peek through it last week, and I look forward to the official opening, but it is up and operating from eight in the morning until 10 at night. Again, you just need your Medicare card, and it's at 2 Kable Street in Windsor, co-located with the Cable Street GP Myhealth practice. I'm very grateful to the doctors, nurses and staff at that facility, who have stepped up in quite a short space of time to create a place where I know on Monday morning at eight o'clock there was a queue because it's a much-needed service and will take a lot of pressure off our Hawkesbury hospital emergency department. The practice will work closely with other GPS and feed back the circumstances in which they've seen patients.”
“We are really committed to supporting our health workforce, our valuable, highly skilled and hardworking health workforce, to deliver quality care to Australians. We've done it in a number of ways. We've been talking a lot today about bulk-billing practices. In Macquarie, to make it easier to access your GP, we've ensured that we already have 18 fully bulk-billing practices, and they are practices not just in one area. Remember that my electorate is 4,000 square kilometres. So they are not just in one part but from the top of the Blue Mountains all the way down to the plains where the Nepean River defines it and then up north, across through the Hawkesbury. These practices are fully bulk-billing practices. For every patient, every time, bulk-billing is available. There are 18 of them to date.”
“It paves the way for prescribing of schedule 2, 3, 4 and 8 medicines—each of those is a different type of medication—but only in partnership with an authorised health practitioner who's an independent prescriber, such as a nurse practitioner or a doctor. The way this changes things is one part of many things that we're doing. I should point out that this legislation that we are discussing today will result in the first cohort of designated registered nurse prescribers likely to complete their education, receive endorsement and begin prescribing medicines from sometime around the middle of the year. So this is something that will take a little bit of time, but we're going to see it in 2026.”
“They then need to establish a formal partnership with an authorised health practitioner, like a GP, and that will involve a prescribing agreement detailing the circumstances in which the nurse can prescribe drugs. It's a huge change. It has a lot of safeguards around it. It is probably worth noting that the last time new prescribers were endorsed in a similar way was when midwives and nurse practitioners were endorsed, and that was about 20 years ago. These things are done with a lot of care, a lot of planning and a lot of safeguards around them. The registration standard for endorsement has been published by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.”
“She said that a good example would be a person who is stable on medication that they've been for some period of time and may need a repeat script. Depending on the medication, the registered nurse could be the one to do the prescribing, instead of needing to make an appointment to see the GP. So there is one example of where this might work. There are extra requirements that registered nurses will need to do. It's a major expansion of their scope of practice, and they have to meet stringent requirements to apply for an endorsement to prescribe. They have to do postgraduate qualifications. They have to be able to demonstrate adequate clinical experience, and then they need to participate in a six-month clinical mentorship with an authorised health practitioner.”
“Health ministers got together, and that is one of the strengths of our government. We have the capacity to work with the states and health ministers around the country, because you do need things to be worked out, usually, at the Commonwealth and state level. And health ministers last year approved the plan to expand the role of registered nurses. I want to be really clear. This is a lot about ensuring the time of GPs is freed up, but it is not necessarily about nurses working in isolation. The idea is that they work as part of a multidisciplinary team so that we have each member of that team being as effective and efficient for patients as they can be. An example of what might fall under this came from Frances Rice, who's the chief nursing officer at the Australian College of Nursing.”
“We're talking about tens of thousands of nurses around the country who are now eligible to take that pathway towards prescribing medicines to patients. It's worth remembering what the situation we're changing is. Until now, the only health practitioners allowed to prescribe were medical doctors, dentists, optometrists, some pharmacists and, with some restrictions, nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives, all of whom have done the appropriate training to be able to make these really critical decisions for patients when they see them. For nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives, they have additional postgraduate training that expands their scope of practice. Registered nurses may only have a bachelor's degree as well as registration with a regulatory agency, and that has not allowed them to be prescribers. So how is it going to work?”
“The legislation allows registered nurses who are endorsed against the registration standard to be an authorised prescriber to enable them to prescribe certain medicines that can be supplied under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and attract Commonwealth subsidy. It changes the Health Insurance Act 1973 to include registered nurses with certain provisions. But it's been described by nurses and people working in the sector as a huge change to the health system. When you think about the implications of it, who you can go to in order to get a script and have a healthcare professional talk to you, we've already made it possible for more things to be done at pharmacies because we want pharmacists working at the top of their scope, but this is now expanding it even beyond that realm.”
“The sense of this bill is that it will allow designated registered nurses to prescribe safe, timely and effective medication. It's extending what we call their scope of practice, the stuff they're allowed to do, particularly in primary care and aged care. I know for my community it's worth noting that we've got more than 1,300 registered nurses in Macquarie, and that's on top of about 1,700 midwives and nursing professionals. So there's a really large cohort of people who are highly qualified, very experienced and may well choose to take the next steps involved so that they can expand the things that they're allowed to do. It may not sound like a big change.”
“We made a promise that we would expand the scope of practice for health professionals so we could deliver real benefits to Australians. We all know it's tough to get to a GP exactly when you need to, and this is one of many tools we're using to try and address issues that have been building up for a long time in our health system, particularly at that first interaction in primary health care. This bill, the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025, is an important step to ensure that Australians have better access to the health care they need and specifically to the medicines they need—now more affordable medicines, thanks to our capping of medicines under the PBS at $25 a script and the ability to get 60-day scripts. This is all part of a much bigger picture and shouldn't be seen in isolation.”
“As Australians, we are all diminished by this loss. To Jewish Australians, to the Bondi community and to those directly affected by this attack, we say clearly that this parliament stands with you and shares in your grief. To all Australians, may we respond to hatred not by shrinking from one another but by standing closer together with resolve, with compassion and with humanity. May our response honour the 15 innocent lives lost and the values of Australian society of which they were such a treasured part.”
“I understand the feeling of powerlessness that many Australians felt in the aftermath of this horrific attack. But I also understand that, as a community, our power lies in how we respond to this atrocity. Every act of compassion, kindness and unity is an act of defiance of these terrorists' will and a tribute to the memory of those victims. Every step we take to keep each other safe affirms our commitment to protecting life without surrendering the openness and respect that define us as a society. This attack did not take place in my local community, but it was an attack on the values shared by the entire Australian community. In 1623, the English poet John Donne wrote: No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. … … … Any man's death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind.”
“I also acknowledge the bravery and humanity of ordinary Australians who showed the best of who we are in the worst of circumstances—people who ran towards danger to protect others, strangers who offered shelter, comfort and first aid to other strangers, and the countless private, quiet gestures of care and sympathy. I travelled from the Blue Mountains to Bondi a few days after the shooting. As I stood in the early morning light, I recognised that I was not alone in being drawn to that place to stand quietly alongside a community in mourning and to convey the respects of my own community. The objective of terrorist acts such as this is to divide us and to instil panic and suspicion in communities who are essentially full of goodwill.”
“To see such a place violated by an act of senseless violence has shaken Australians deeply because it has struck somewhere that felt shared, open and safe, a place where all Australians should be safe, and where Jewish Australians celebrating Hanukkah should have been safe. This attack on our Jewish community was an attack on all of us. I want to also acknowledge those who were injured, physically and psychologically. I want to acknowledge the bravery of the first responders, some of whom I had the privilege of thanking this morning—representatives of Bondi and North Bondi lifesaving clubs and Waverley Council lifeguards.”
“As it should, this has left Australians reeling. Our thoughts are foremost with the 15 innocent victims and those who love them, whose lives have been changed forever by this loss and who are now suddenly navigating unimaginable grief. May the memory of those lost be a blessing. Bondi is a special place. It's a meeting point between sand, sea and sky, between locals and visitors, and between generations. For Sydneysiders, it holds memories of our visits—as kids, as adolescents and as new parents—and, always, that feeling of being on one of the world's most famous beaches. It represents the freedom and safety that every Australian deserves. It represents the carefree, joyful spirit of our national character. It's a place that belongs to us all.”
“I was a long way from Bondi Beach on the evening of Sunday 14 December, at a community event to celebrate the festive season, up above the Hawkesbury River in part of the greater Blue Mountains. But, like so many others, I was only one person removed from knowing people who were there that evening, people who'd left the beach a little earlier, people who were about to go for their regular run, people who were at the surf lifesaving club for Christmas parties—and the connections go on. However, it is not the proximity to danger that has created horror and anguish for people; it's the sheer evil act—the murder of 15 innocent people at Bondi Beach that evening, at a celebration for the first day of Hanukkah, in a horrific, targeted antisemitic attack. It's something none of us could have imagined would happen on Australian soil.”
“As co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Eating Disorder Awareness, we will continue to do work so that people suffering from an eating disorder can control what they see online. There is so much more to do, and I'm very proud to keep doing it.”
“Our special envoy for men's health, the member for Hunter, has met people in my electorate, including Panthers, the Nepean/Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury prostate group, Walk it Off, Men's Shed and Lions, to hear their stories and concerns around mental health. The Panthers wellbeing officer, Kevin Kingston, shared the work being done to focus on wellbeing on and off the field for players, coaches and support teams. This is work that happens in our community. I know groups like Reachout are doing incredible work, and I met recently with a delegation of young people, including Sina from Bligh Park, to talk about their research on the need for trusted mental health information online so that young people know what to trust.”
“Everyone should know that there's a Medicare mental health website, medicarementalhealth.gov.au, to help you find the service you need. You can't do any of this unless you build a workforce. Reflecting back, we have been able to build that workforce, with more than 4,000 psychology scholarships, internships and training places, plus our focus on peer support workers. Next year we'll establish a new peer workforce association with a census of peer workers. I know I'm not alone in advocating for better mental health services, and I really want to pay tribute to Assistant Minister McBride, who has used her professional experience in the sector to drive so much of the reform that we're seeing, along with the Minister for Health and Ageing.”
“This is a free digital mental health tool. It'll give you access to self-help tools and low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy. CBT is part of so many support treatments that people receive. It'll be delivered by trained professionals via phone or video. I'm very excited to see the impact that the Medicare Mental Health Check In will have. It's for anyone over 16, and you don't need a referral from your GP to access it. We'll also be encouraging people to seek help early. Having personally experienced the quality of care of the St Vincent's mental health team in our family, I look forward to seeing the product they roll out and how they work with the various stakeholders to get this right. Everyone should know the Medicare mental health phone line: 1800 595 212.”
“From early next year we're rolling out the new National Early Intervention Service, which will deliver free phone and online mental health support from trained professionals. We received the details this week of the organisation selected to deliver this free digital mental health service. It's going to be called Medicare Mental Health Check In, and St Vincent's Health Australia has been tasked to deliver this service from 1 January next year. The Medicare Mental Health Check In is part of our commitment to making sure that, no matter where you are—whether you're in periurban areas like mine, whether you're at the top of the Blue Mountains or beyond, whether you're way up in the world heritage area and not easily able to access centres in places like Richmond, Penrith or Katoomba—you can access support.”
“I had a fantastic update just this week on the plans for the Penrith service, and I'm really looking forward to more details of the location of that one coming out, because we know how important those first few years are. They can be tough on mums and dads, but they are formative for children. So these perinatal mental health centres will unlock a whole other way of accessing support at a time when things are already quite complex. Even if everything's going well, it's never the easiest time in a parent's life, especially a mum's life. We're also creating 17 Mental Health Kids Hubs to provide children and families with behavioural, social, emotional and wellbeing support. We're really looking at these free services being expanded across the entire range of need.”
“They're located in every Medicare mental health centre. It means they meet you on your level. They've been there. They've walked in your shoes. Care in these centres is tailored to the needs of each person, with wraparound support for people who have more ongoing need. No appointment, no referral, no mental health treatment plan is needed. You literally walk in. Ninety-one Medicare mental health centres are on their way, offering free walk-in care from this multidisciplinary team. The expansion has been part of our plan to strengthen Medicare, and we made a historic $1.1 billion commitment at the election to deliver these new and expanded mental health services. It's across the whole lifespan of Australians. It includes 20 perinatal mental health centres to deliver support for new and expectant parents.”
“The Medicare mental health centre in Penrith is open seven days a week and the one in Richmond is open six days a week, including Thursday and Saturday evenings. As the mother of someone who's experienced complex mental health issues throughout their life, I can assure you that it never happens between nine and five, and that's been taken into account in so many of the services that have already rolled out and that are in the process of being rolled out. I recently visited the Penrith Medicare mental health centre with Assistant Minister McBride. The centres are staffed by multidisciplinary teams with mental health clinicians and, importantly, peer workers. These peer workers are a vital part of the process. I see them at my Richmond centre and at the Hawkesbury centre as well as at the Penrith one.”
“These have provided and continue to provide access to young people. That's why I support the expansion of these services. We're expanding to 203 headspace services to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged between 12 and 25. You might say, 'Well, that's great for young people, but what about adults?' My experience is that some older people who are able to go to headspace are opting for an alternative service, which is the Medicare mental health centre, a place that anyone of any age can walk into and ask for help. I think that's the key thing: it's the ability to walk in, at any time, to ask for help. And the centres are not just open from Monday to Friday, nine to five.”
“When I look back to the start of my time in parliament, access to free mental health services was available only in acute situations—essentially when you were hospitalised. the biggest change I've seen in that decade is access to free early intervention and ongoing management care for complex mental health issues through places like headspace and Medicare mental health centres. It truly is transformational. When I came to this place in 2016 there simply was no free mental health service where young people could front up before something happened, before they reached a crisis. After years of advocating we were able to secure, first of all, the Katoomba headspace and then in more recent years the Richmond headspace, and of course the Penrith headspace was one that we set up last time we were in government.”
“I want to acknowledge the contribution of the member for Leichhardt. This is a place where really personal stories get shared—that's what we all bring to our roles—and it's important for others to hear them. When I think about mental health, I cannot foresee a time when I will ever say, 'Job done. We've done all we need to do.' I just cannot see that we will get to a point where there isn't more to do, because it feels like there will always be more to do. But Mental Health Month does provide an opportunity to reflect on progress, and I'm very proud to be part of the Albanese Labor government, which is delivering more mental health services in the heart of communities right across the country. I'm also really proud to have been one of the advocates who has helped ensure that this is a key focus for this government.”
“Australia's cultural policy, Revive, recognises that taking part in the arts strengthens social cohesion, connectedness and wellbeing. It helps break down social stigma and offers a means of creative expression. In both clinical and non-clinical settings, Revive backs the role of the arts in improving health outcomes, including in mental health. What's more, we saw the musicians from the Windsor, Penrith, Castle Hill and St Marys groups create joy, and we know that, for musicians, the act of playing can ground, soothe and remind us that we are not alone.”
“If you've wondered about the power of music and music therapy to heal, you would have had no doubts after hearing veterans playing at Guitars for Vets' end-of-year performance at Windsor RSL. Guitars for Vets is delivered by Noro, who received federal funding through the Department of Veterans' Affairs to run workshops, and some of the groups are now being funded through their local RSLs. Participants and their families tell me that the program has saved their lives. The weekly meeting is a highlight for many—a session where you play and sing with people you may not have known before but are now bonded to. The eclectic music choices, from 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' to 'Sweet Caroline', tell me there are some big discussions had about music genre.”