Mary Aldred
Monash · Liberal Party · Australia
“It's a privilege to rise for my 100th contribution to this place. In doing so, I want to address a barbeque-stopper of a conversation topic in my electorate of Monash, and that is homeownership. I'm deeply concerned. Building approvals dropped in May for the third consecutive month. This is an impact of the budget's housing tax changes.”
“You can measure the budget deficit of this government in numbers, but nothing compares to the deficit of trust it has created in Australia. We need to unlock supply and enable local infrastructure like Weebar Road in Drouin, in my electorate of Monash, which I've been fighting very hard for.”
“This Friday is 3 July, and it is the 12-month anniversary of the swearing-in of the class of 2025. It is a momentous occasion for that class among us.”
“I've got a constituent right now who's living with her abuser in fear because leaving means she will be separated from her special needs son and pets, and she cannot afford to move out. There are a couple living in a tent in a stranger's driveway in my electorate, and they cannot afford anywhere to rent on their $450-per-week budget.”
“Our wonderful CFA volunteers in Victoria answer the call in the middle of the night and step away from their work in the middle of the day to protect our community year round. As the daughter of someone who was a CFA volunteer, I know this very well.”
“For all the smirking and the back-patting and the preening that this prime minister carries on with, Australians right now deserve so much better from their government. Look at health.”
The complete record
Every one of 624 lines we hold for Mary Aldred, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 12 of 13.
“It is one that, when I was CEO of a national small business organisation a few years ago, I remember engaging in a discussion on, because it's an important issue for many small business owners. The technology that's developed across that time—the scale, pace and acceleration of new technology that's come in since there were cheques and old-style merchant facilities—has changed rapidly. So, as a parliament setting regulatory systems and legislative changes, we need to make sure that we're keeping up with best practice and that we're having regard for cyber security concerns. We've seen many of those in recent years at a consumer level, where there's been sensitive health and financial data breached. We need to make sure that the RBA are not left alone to deal with those challenges, given their very narrow remit.”
“The input costs across so many areas are going up and up. The risks of being in business are going up and up. Having grown up in my parents' family-run small business, I would see them answer phone calls from customers on a Sunday night and work late into the night on BAS statements. I know so many small businesses across this country are doing it tough with lean margins. They will pay their staff before they get paid. They will make sure that their customers are delivered for. They will always put themselves last; they put their community first. They look after their staff, and they are the unsung heroes of this country. I want to talk specifically about the conversation at the moment on the RBA's review into merchant card surcharging, because this is a conversation that's been going on for a number of years now.”
“This is an important opportunity to talk about small business in Australia because, right now, small-business owners have never worked harder for less or faced more risk and red tape. I'm a passionate believer that strong businesses sustain strong communities. I see that every single day of the week in my electorate of Monash, where small-business owners are the first to put their hands up to sponsor the local footy team or sporting organisation. It's small businesses that are the first to put their hands up to volunteer at a service club, with a Lions barbecue or with Rotary. We very much rely on those organisations in regional Australia. So I pay tribute to the mum-and-dad small business owners. Every morning they get out of bed, they put their house on the line to give someone else a shot at a job, and they're doing it tough right now.”
“It's a privilege to follow the member for Riverina. I associate myself with his remarks about Mr Bruce Billson, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. That is an incredibly important role. It's a statutory role. It has responsibilities for mediation, where small businesses find themselves in a David-and-Goliath situation. Anyone who knows Bruce Billson knows he is an absolute evangelist for small business. He has lived it and breathed it over many, many years, and I too want to pay tribute to his record of service, not just as a former small-business minister in this place but in his time as the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. I wish him and his wife, Kate, all the very best for their next steps.”
“The Albanese Labor government is holding regional Australia back through its lack of investment and proper support for digital connectivity. It is disconnecting us from a stronger, better future. I have no hesitation in saying on this front that regional Australia deserves so much better.”
“The coalition is on a mission to eliminate mobile black spots from regional Australia, and I know how much advocacy and effort my good colleague the member for Mallee has invested on this front. Under the former coalition government, 1,295 mobile black spots were funded to provide improved mobile coverage for communities to stay connected, access essential services like health and education, and conduct business. I know how important this is for small business owners especially. We won't stop there, because on this side of the Chamber we appreciate that much of Australia's wealth is generated in regional Australia. To continue to grow, make and manufacture goods and services the rest of Australia and, indeed, many parts of the world rely on us for, we need to be connected.”
“There is still a lack of reliable high-speed infrastructure in many parts of regional Australia. We're not just talking about access here. Regional Australians have a right to demand metrics based on quality in digital and communication infrastructure as well. This means talking about not just where a property is technically able to access a service; it should be able to count on a benchmark of other metrics as well, including speed and consistency in connectivity. One of the points the OECD makes very well in its report is that Australia is one of a group of countries that, whilst having extensive networks of broadband, is still struggling with the challenge of equality of access in regional areas. There could be no clearer message to this government in this report.”
“Over a decade ago, when I was CEO of the Committee for Gippsland, I initiated one of the first Gippsland digital connectivity master plans to map out major mobile black spot and digital connectivity challenges. The gap between metropolitan and regional Australia is widening, not closing, on critical infrastructure under this Labor government. Connectivity is a prime example. Even the OECD agrees. Last week the OECD released its report C losing broadband connectivity divides for all : from evidence to practi c e , and the findings are stark. While this government loves to talk a big game on its NBN performance, the OECD findings have a different take. In fact, they are particularly critical of the growing discrepancy between metro and rural broadband performance.”
“I spoke to the local florist in Korumburra—a fantastic business, by the way—about her challenges talking to customers placing orders and having the phone drop out. Everyone in South Gippsland knows that, when you leave Korumburra heading to Leongatha, nine times out of 10 if you're on the phone it will drop out just past the timber yard as you leave town. Although, it seems to happen to me 10 times out of 10. Mobile connectivity is a major challenge for small businesses, families and community organisations right across my electorate and beyond, and it's something that I believe needs to be addressed as a major national challenge. Unfortunately, regional Australia too often finds itself in Labor's no-care zone. It's something I have a long-term track record of advocating for in my electorate.”
“Regional communications and digital connectivity are critical issues for my electorate of Monash, and I commend my Victorian colleague the member for Mallee for her very strong advocacy and efforts to promote these issues. I am passionate about securing better mobile connectivity and communications infrastructure in Monash. The coalition walks the talk on this. The Albanese Labor government does not. During the recent election I was joined by the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, in Korumburra to announce a commitment of $3 million to address mobile black spots across South Gippsland, West Gippsland and Bass Coast. Of course I'm disappointed that the coalition is not in government to deliver this. You don't need to go far to know why this commitment had such major support right across my electorate.”
“Surf Life Saving Victoria has recently written to local government organisations in coastal communities saying that ratepayers will need to pay more to ensure patrolled beaches can be sustained at their current levels. The alternative is that those patrols will drop. The consequence will be that more people will be at risk of drowning. Last year, Bass Coast Shire Council contributed $98,000 towards the Royal Life Saving Society surf patrols. This year they have been requested to fund $260,000. That is a 160 per cent increase with minimal consultation—outside standard budget requests. The council have 2,000 short-stay rentals. This is a looming disaster. We know Labor has never met a levy it didn't like. Our community deserves so much better.”
“Australia has recorded its highest number of drowning deaths since records began. That's one of the key take-outs from the Royal Life Saving Society Australia's latest report, which was launched at Parliament House, and I commend them on an excellent report. Tragically, Phillip Island has seen a number of drownings in recent years. Lives have been lost, families remain in grief and first responders carry lifelong scars. About six months ago, Coroners Court of Victoria handed down findings into the state's deadliest drowning tragedy in almost 20 years. It is horrific to read, and yet Victorian Labor proceeds to cut and cost shift to already stretched local councils.”
“The government cites figures that shows smoking rates among people 14 and above have gone down from 13.8 per cent in 2017 to 8.3 per cent. But as Jon Kaila writes in today's Herald Sun , the latest Australian Criminal Investigation Commission waste water report shows an uptick in nicotine rates. The ABC has reported that violent robberies in Victoria have grown by more than 150 per cent since February 2024 owing to tobacco related crime. I've spoken to a number of retailers about their concerns. They pay tax, they adhere to the regulations, and they are concerned about the safety and wellbeing of their staff. I call on the federal Labor government to urgently review all available options to address this crisis from taxation to law enforcement. (Time expired)”
“We have a major problem with illegal tobacco trade in Australia. It is putting lives at risk, increasing smoking rates, driving profits to organised crime and short-changing the Australian Taxation Office. Today marks yet another increase of five per cent on legal cigarettes, which are already taxed at among the highest levels in the world. The policy intention on excise tax is to reduce the number of people, particularly young people, who take up smoking, because of the financial impost. All of us in this place want to see a reduction in the number of people smoking and the number of people who take it up. The unintended policy consequence has been a surging black market of illegal tobacco. At the same time as the tax on cigarettes is going up, the associated government revenue has plummeted.”
“In fact, of the 264 providers surveyed for the workforce census report, more than 15,300 staff left out of a total of just over 60,000. There's a significant cost in replacing those staff. I thank the House for its attention.”
“And if this girl misses out on those weekly physiotherapy sessions, there is a huge impact—and the impact is that she will return to being confined to a wheelchair, because she won't be able to walk in the way that she's been able to develop to. There's another young man who receives weekly speech pathology sessions, and that, for him, is the difference between be able to communicate to those around him that he's in pain, that there's a risk or that there's danger present. If he doesn't receive those pathology sessions, he will go backwards as well. As for the biggest risk at the moment, we all agree, I think, that the NDIS needs to be run in an efficient and effective manner, but I was most concerned to read recently that up to one in four NDIS workers are quitting every year, which is driving up significant costs.”
“I would particularly like to note Natalie, Amanda, Lynelle, Meg, Helen and Danielle, among many other local support workers, who took the time to meet with me to explain how these changes will impact on their clients. There were two cases that really struck me quite deeply and profoundly. One of them is of a teenage girl from Moe in the Latrobe Valley, who receives weekly physiotherapy sessions. We don't have the market density that many metropolitan and city areas have, so the physiotherapy sessions for this teenage girl come via a provider who does need to travel a distance every week to provide that to her. These changes just make it uneconomical for that provider to continue to travel to this community to provide that care.”
“Just as one example, I wrote to the Prime Minister on 8 July. I said, 'Dear Prime Minister, I write to express my deep concern about the recent NDIS pricing changes.' Since then a number of people in the coalition, particularly my friend and colleague the member for Herbert, have asked very reasonably for a slight delay on the implementation of these changes to take stock, to actually listen to feedback from the sector and to listen to people with a disability, their carers and allied health professionals about the impact of these changes. But, having a tin ear to feedback, this government haven't taken a moment to do that. They've just steamrolled ahead with the implementation of these cuts and travel changes, which will very adversely and unfairly affect many people in my electorate.”
“That is, of course, in line with those core goals and aims behind why the NDIS was set up in the first place. One thing that really concerns me is the way in which Labor's talking points on this motion have been presented. I've heard, in a number of contributions, references to dodgy providers. In this context, that is a very unfair slight on a great many providers, allied health professionals and people who care for those with a disability every single day, who have raised legitimate and genuine concerns about the impact of these changes on people in many communities, particularly in communities like mine in regional Australia. Unfortunately, these people fall into Labor's no-care zone. I think Labor has demonstrated, very unfortunately, a tin ear to feedback on genuine concerns and on the impact of these changes.”
“I'm very pleased to get up and speak on this motion put forward by my friend and colleague the member for Herbert. I know he feels deeply and passionately about this issue and about supporting all Australians with a disability to live their lives to their full potential. I want to go back to the core raison d'etre, or reason for being, for the NDIS, and that is to provide funding and support for Australians with a permanent and significant disability to live life in the most ordinary way possible. I come from regional Australia; I come from regional Victoria. I'm very proud to represent my magnificent electorate of Monash. What I passionately believe is that your postcode should not determine your potential. It should not determine your ability to access the services and support that you need to live your life to your full potential.”
“They haven't just failed to fix the crisis; they've actually made it worse. Labor's housing policies are incoherent. In one breath they say they want to cut red tape, but in the next they want to become the nation's largest mortgage insurer. You're either for the private economy, fewer bureaucracies and getting government out of the way or you're not. Labor clearly isn't. In their first term alone, the Albanese Labor government introduced more than 5,000 new regulations, including over 1,500 in the Treasury and infrastructure portfolios.”
“Just ask one of the young tradies that I spoke to recently in Moe; he is now saving for his first home, but that feels further and further out of reach. Ask the young growing family in Leongatha I met with recently, who are trying to make that jump from renting to owning; that gap is getting further and further apart. Ask the young couple in Bass Coast who work day and night and shouldn't have to rely on the bank of mum and dad. I have spoken with many young Australians in my electorate of Monash who've explained to me how they've done all the right things. They've studied hard. They've saved hard. They've worked long hours. Many of them are actually working multiple jobs to make ends meet. And they're still left asking: will I ever get to own my own home? This is the legacy of Labor's housing policies.”
“Australia is in the middle of a housing crisis. But this is not a crisis caused by some uncontrollable global force. It's a crisis caused directly by decisions of the Albanese Labor government. In just three short years, Labor has presided over the biggest population surge Australia has seen since the 1950s—three consecutive years of record immigration, with hundreds of thousands of new people added to our population every year, at a time when housing construction has plummeted. They've increased demand through record migration, while simultaneously stifling supply with bureaucracy, red tape and economic mismanagement. It's the worst possible combination: more people, fewer homes, higher prices, longer wait lists and growing despair.”
“I reflect on our founder, Robert Menzies: when he returned to the prime ministership in December 1949, he made homeownership a core part of his post-war vision for Australia. We, on this side of the House, understand what it means for young people to be able to take that first step into the property market. But that first step is becoming further and further away for so many young people these days. I understand the frustration that so many Australians, particularly in my own electorate of Monash, feel when that dream is pushed out of reach—pushed out of reach by poor policy; pushed out of reach by a Labor government defined by waste and mismanagement. Today that dream of homeownership has never been more under threat. Under Labor, the great Australian dream of owning a home is fast becoming a nightmare. Let me be clear.”
“In Baw Baw shire, which the demographer Bernard Salt has written extensively about, Warragul and Drouin have been the fastest-growing towns in Australia over a 10-year period. So we need new infrastructure; we need new housing. At the recent election, I was really pleased to be able to secure some commitments, on behalf of the coalition, to help unlock infrastructure that would provide more homes—more affordable homes—in our region. But this issue is also about Australians who invest in their own future more broadly—Australians who work hard, pay their bills and raise a family. It's about a future that people can believe in and a future where hard work pays off and dreams are within reach. The coalition is and always has been the party of homeownership.”
“I rise to speak on this motion, which is very important—it covers some very important topics for my electorate of Monash. I follow some fine contributions by my colleagues on this side of the chamber, the members for McPherson and Goldstein, who, I know, feel very passionately about this issue—it's core to Liberal values—and that is: the right to build a life, raise a family and own your own home. Homeownership is not just an economic decision. It's about belonging and it's about being part of a community. In my community, in my part of the world, the Monash electorate, this is particularly important in areas like the Bass Coast Shire Council and Wonthaggi, where we've got rapid population growth and the infrastructure is not keeping pace with that population growth.”
“She said Australia was a safe haven from the greatest horrors on Earth. To Judy I say: I stand with you, the coalition stands with you and good Australians stand with you. (Time expired)”
“We've seen businesses owned by Jewish Australians having their staff attacked, their premises firebombed and frequent and persistent calls for their businesses to be boycotted. In no other situation would this be tolerated, and for no other group in society would this be allowed to stand. I am proud to represent an electorate named after Australia's greatest ever citizen, General Sir John Monash, a Jewish man. Despite his heroic war efforts, Monash had to contend with antisemitism in his day. He would be heartsick, I am sure, to see his beloved city of Melbourne and home state in the grips of an epidemic of antisemitism right now. Last year, I visited a synagogue in St Kilda that John Monash was once the president of. I met a Holocaust survivor, Judy, who would be 95 this year. We talked about antisemitism in Melbourne.”
“They are unprecedented in their nature in Australia. They are illegal. They have put lives at risk. They have terrorised our community. This is a foreign government not just seeking to cause violence. It is seeking to sow hate, disunity and civil disruption. These are major national security risks. Jewish Australians are living in fear right now, particularly in my home state of Victoria. They are scared. We have some shocking, appalling examples of schoolkids being publicly abused because they are Jewish. You have to ask what sort of time we are living in, where anyone would feel comfortable racially abusing schoolchildren—kids!—in public, because they feel like they can, because that's the time that we're living in right now.”
“It is indicative of how this government chooses to govern. The Prime Minister was fond of the slogan 'a better Australia' when he came to government. Where has he taken us to today? Not a better Australia. We are more divided, less united and at greater risk. For 2½ years, the coalition has been calling for the Albanese government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. But the government wouldn't listen, and they didn't act. Synagogues have been firebombed. This government has acted too late on the motivation for these attacks and the aftermath. ASIO and the Australian Federal Police provided evidence that the Iranian government has been responsible for not one but at least two serious antisemitic attacks in Australia. There could well be more. These are despicable actions.”
“As Greg Sheridan said in the Australian today, 'These are serious, even historic, actions, taken for the right reasons.' But yesterday's turn of events, sadly, follows a litany of failures to properly address the oldest hatred of all time—left unchallenged by this government that for too long has shown it will not listen and it will not act. In today's question time, the Prime Minister defended his actions on this issue by pointing to the fact that he appointed a special envoy on antisemitism. But the obvious question to this is: why haven't you listened to her? Why didn't you act on the special envoy's report? The safety of Australians should not be an afterthought to government. It should be treated with proactive urgency, not a reactive mop up. This has been a massive failure of duty. It has been an abrogation of diligence.”
“I rise to speak in support of the shadow Attorney-General's motion about the Albanese government's continued failure to deal with antisemitism and to keep Australians safe. As I said in my maiden speech, antisemitism is an offence against Australian values. We have seen our Jewish community attacked, discriminated against and terrorised. This is a stain on our good national character. Every time there is an attack on our Jewish community, political leaders have a choice: to confront this head-on or to choose to look away and hope it goes away. Tragically, on this issue we have not seen the strength and moral courage befitting a prime minister. Now, I wholeheartedly support the government's actions in expelling the ambassador of Iran.”
“I support meaningful and practical efforts to ensure the NDIS is run efficiently, but disproportionately impacting regional communities is not the way to achieve this. Many of these providers are small businesses; they are not huge corporations and simply cannot absorb the cuts. They will close their doors or not travel to towns where their services are needed the most. In regional Australia, we lack the market density of city and metropolitan areas. This extends to services like the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I passionately believe your postcode shouldn't determine your potential in life. By its actions on this issue, the Albanese Labor government appears to disagree. I will continue to advocate for my community on this issue in the strongest terms possible because they deserve better.”
“Among the stories that have most impacted my view on this issue are those of the teenage girl from the Latrobe Valley receiving weekly physiotherapy, without which she would return to being confined in a wheelchair, and the non-verbal child who cannot communicate that he is in pain. His speech therapy is the key that makes the difference every week. The reduction in travel funding poses a significant risk to the provision of necessary and ongoing care for people living with a disability in regional communities. It limits the ability of therapists to reach participants, thereby reducing access to vital services. The cuts jeopardise the essential care of people living with a disability in our community. They deserve better from our government than that.”
“There has been 'crickets' from the government on this, despite the coalition very reasonably asking for a modest three-month pause on the implementation of these changes, which were due to come into effect from the start of the financial year, to be able to properly account for their impact. I commend my colleague the member for Herbert for his compelling advocacy on this issue. It represents the hurt and anxiety many people in my community are experiencing about these changes. These are not hypothetical case studies and numbers on a spreadsheet; the consequences of these changes are to real people.”
“I rise to speak on changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme pricing for providers on travel charges. These charges have reduced physiotherapy funding by $10 per hour and halved travel funding for allied health professionals. For regional communities like Monash, these cuts threaten the sustainability of specialist support services for people who need them most. I want to thank people living with a disability in Monash who have met with me to discuss how these changes will impact them, along with local providers, allied health professionals and plan managers. On 8 July I wrote to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Disability and the NDIS, outlining how these changes will hurt regional Australians living with a disability and those who support them.”
“I'm calling on the federal government to get its act together and come good on commitments made which are well past their due date.”
“It was back in early March 2024 that Meta announced it would not renew its deal with Country Press Australia and other Australian publishers. The News Bargaining Incentive is a solution that enjoys broad industry support. Consultation has yet to begin, let alone the draft legislation. I am calling on the government to finalise this process by the end of 2025 to ensure that Meta, TikTok and other platforms join the negotiating table in good faith. Country Press Australia has confirmed that regional and local news industry outlets would strongly oppose any changes to Australia's world-leading copyright laws to allow AI companies to further access and use copyrighted content without permission or payment. There has never been a more important time to support our regional and local publishers.”
“The government's own website states: The News Media Assistance Program (News MAP) sets out a framework and measures to support public interest journalism and media diversity in Australia … On 12 December 2023, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts opened consultation on the News Media Assistance Program. Submissions closed back in February 2024. The News MAP design is still awaiting finalisation, and the successful funding applicants are still waiting to hear from the government. The mandated minimum commitment of $3 million per year for two years from 2025 to 2026 for regional newspaper advertising across the total Commonwealth media advertising spend has gone nowhere. We are now going on over two years after the government said it would address this issue.”
“The Phillip Island and San Remo Advertiser newspaper first appeared in 1896 as a title called The San Remo Times and Phillip Island and Bass Valley Advertiser , making its first edition over 128 years old. Eleanor McKay is the editor. Regional journalists show up to meetings no-one else attends. They ask tough questions. They cover the bushfire alerts, and they stay to report the aftermath long after the flames are gone. We've seen some recent threats to local newspapers, from teal donors astroturfing online newsletters to skew readers across to common causes and candidates, through to the move online for the gazetting of government publications. Support has been committed by the federal government, but it's been slow out of the gates in securing the future of regional journalism.”
“Above editor of the Warragul and Drouin Gazette Yvette Brand's desk hangs a plaque that reads: 'A good local newspaper is one of the best public assets that any district can possess.' It's a quote by their founding owner and editor Albert Harvey. The Warragul and Drouin Gazette is more than 127 years old. The Latrobe Valley E xpress is celebrating 60 years this year, and editor Liam Durkin has been running six decades in six weeks. The S outh Gippsland Sentin e l Times has been going for 51 years. So seriously does editor Michael Giles take the role of the local newspaper, he trekked to Canberra for the maiden speech of my predecessor 25 years ago and came back up again last month for mine.”
“There is an array of senior Australian journalists who started in regional media, like Weekend Sunrise co-host David Woiwod from WIN News in Gippsland, and the Age and Sydney Morning Herald Europe correspondent Rob Harris, who started at the La t robe Valley Express . In my electorate of Monash, we have the South Gippsland Sentinel Times , the Warragul and Drouin Gazette , the Latrobe Valley Express , the Phillip Island Advertiser , the Trafalgar News , the Foster Mirror , the Mirboo North Times and the Bass Coast Post . They are locally funded. They are professional journalists. They are important to the community fabric of our region.”
“In triumph and tragedy, there's someone who always turns up for regional Australia, and that's the local newspaper. Across towns and regions throughout Australia, the local paper weaves the threads that hold communities together. It shares in the triumphs, grieves in the losses and tells the stories that truly matter to everyday people. It's where a teenager reads their name in print next to a goal they scored for the first time in the sports pages. Everyday volunteers are celebrated, and the births, deaths and marriages of a town are enlivened with photographs, congratulations and condolences every week. Local news keeps people connected not just to events but to one another.”
“When last in government, the coalition doubled the number of Medicare subsidised mental health sessions Australians could access from 10 to 20. Labor has cut Medicare subsidised mental health support in half—back to 10 sessions. This leaves 372,000 Australians, many of them young people, without the support they need. We urgently need to address this. Doubling these sessions is urgent. Securing a new headspace for West Gippsland is a major priority for our community and I make that commitment to our electorate.”
“Adolescence and early adulthood have always been challenging times for young people. I want to pay tribute to some of the excellent organisations in my electorate of Monash for their outstanding work in this space. As a former board member of Lifeline Gippsland, I've seen how hard many of these dedicated volunteers work. In particular, Barry Rogers and the team at Gippsland Youth Spaces continue to put in extraordinary efforts to support young people at risk with very limited resources. I was so pleased to have been able to secure a coalition commitment of $850,000 during the recent election to support their work. I will continue to support their efforts, which include mentorship, safe spaces for young people after school if home is not safe, pathways to vocational and trades training, and much more.”
“Of those, 147—or around 20 per cent—were from the Baw Baw shire, many of whom would have travelled for an hour or more to get there. A 2024 survey of 370 year 8 students in Baw Baw shire paints a clear picture. Thirty-six per cent showed moderate to severe symptoms of depression. That's equivalent to almost three full-time clinicians' caseloads, yet there were no headspace funded positions in the Baw Baw shire area. Twenty-six per cent had moderate to severe anxiety, and twenty-six per cent experienced problematic levels of loneliness. Forty-six per cent said they'd experienced discrimination. Young people in our community deserve safe, inclusive mental health care that actually meets them where they're at, and their need is urgent. We know that young people's mental health needs are evolving. They are more complex.”
“One of those areas—for young people in particular—is mental health. I recently met with a number of dedicated staff from Latrobe Community Health Service in West Gippsland about this challenge. Despite its population growth, the Baw Baw shire area does not have a headspace of its own. You need to travel to the Bass Coast or the Latrobe Valley for the nearest service. These are significant distances to travel, particularly for those from smaller and more remote areas of the Baw Baw shire like Erica, Rawson, Neerim South, Noojee and other towns. I want to thank Tenille Thornburn and Mona Wei from my local community, who wrote to me about why this is important. I met with them recently, and the need is clear. In the 2024-25 financial year, headspace Morwell supported 726 young people with their mental health.”
“This is very much needed. National data shows that young people in Australia experience the highest prevalence of mental health disorders, with nearly 40 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds having experienced one in the past 12 months, including high rates of anxiety disorders. Young people in regional areas do not have the same access to mental health support services. I'm passionate about using my time in this place to close this gap. As Australia's best-known demographer, Bernard Salt, wrote recently: 'Over the last 10 years, Warragul's population has increased by 41 per cent. It outpaces places like Busselton and the Gold Coast.' According to Bernard Salt, Warragul and Drouin, in my electorate, are the fastest-growing towns in Australia, but many of our services haven't kept pace with that growth.”
“This is an important motion to rise on, because young people in regions like mine are being left behind by mental health services and support. I'm pleased to see the reference to Headspace in this motion, because it has been a transformational initiative first brought to fruition by a coalition government. Headspace is, of course, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, and it provides early intervention mental health services for 12- to 25-year-olds. The organisation supports young people with mental health, physical health, alcohol and other drug services, and work and study support. In 2024-25 alone, they supported more than 101,000 young people with over 612,000 occasions of service in headspace centres, and provided more than 24,000 young people and families with over 100,000 digital occasions of service.”
“I make special mention of the Korumburra roundtable's fine advocacy on behalf of our community in its submission. There were eight specific recommendations aimed at addressing what was described a growing humanitarian crisis in both regional areas and capital city suburbs. It is over a year since the inquiry's report was handed down, and, according to the Finance Sector Union, in that time we've seen branches close at a rate of two to three per week. Despite the fact the Albanese Labor government was required to respond within 90 days of the tabling of the report, the recommendations remain unresolved a full year later. On behalf of residents in South Gippsland, who are about to have their last remaining bank branch closed, I call on the Albanese government to get its act together and respond to this report.”