Mental health services
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:42): (547) My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. The Treasurer announced that 35 of the promised mental health and wellbeing local hubs will be delayed. This is due to the government’s repeated failure to invest in workforce development, including in this year’s budget. Workforce shortages are no surprise to the mental health sector; they have been calling for action for years. However, the sector was fully expecting and preparing for the next tranche of those hubs. The CEO of Mental Health Victoria stated that the locals are ‘an attractive service model for new staff and those returning to the sector’, adding that the hubs are a key element of integrated mental health care. So I ask the minister: with no meaningful investment in mental health workforce capacity building in the budget, how will the government address the workforce shortage they say is the reason for not delivering on its commitment to opening these 35 hubs?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:43): I thank Mr Ettershank for his question, and these are important issues. I do take a bit of issue with the way in which that question has been framed. I do not agree at all and I do not think the budget papers support the contention that there is not significant support for the workforce. Of course our mental health workforce are the absolute backbone of the system, whether we are talking about community mental health services or whether we are talking about the acute end of the sector. They will continue to have my support, and they will continue to receive strong investment from the government to make sure that we continue to build a strong pipeline of mental health workers for our state. In fact we have already delivered over $600 million in funding. That has enabled us to commission 2500 positions across the system, and to date, between 2021 and 2023, we had delivered 1700 full-time equivalents already, so FTEs, and we will continue in 2024 and 2025 to deliver the balance of those 2500.
On top of that we have also got a number of important incentives for those in graduate positions, and graduate programs are incredibly important in terms of getting that on-the-ground experience across the sector. In recognition of the fact that there has been, like in many sectors, a challenging environment in terms of skills shortages, we have invested in this year’s budget $15.8 million to provide a pipeline of workers so we can continue rolling out our locals. We already have rolled out 15. Those services are both in metropolitan and regional Victoria. In recognition of the fact that it is going to take us a little longer to roll out the remaining locals, we have provided funding in this year’s budget to continue operating our mental health and wellbeing hubs, which will mean that we have a great network across the state of services in terms of that community missing middle.
We are very committed to continuing this important work. We have said on a number of occasions, and I am happy to repeat it for the house’s benefit, that every single one of the royal commission’s recommendations will be delivered on. But we have to be realistic about the pace and the sequence in which we do that. These investments are very important in terms of the incredibly important role the workforce plays in achieving all of the vision that the royal commission final report set out for us.
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:46): I thank the minister for her response. I guess if it is not staff shortages it must be just a good old-fashioned budget cut. The establishment of a lived and living experience agency was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, so I thank the minister for raising that issue. The royal commission was clear that the voices of people with lived and living experience must be central to building a person-focused, rights-based mental health and wellbeing system. Many in the mental health sector have expressed deep disappointment that the government has failed to allocate funding in this year’s budget to fulfill this important recommendation and question the government’s commitment to fund all of the recommendations of the royal commission. I ask the minister: what is the government’s timeline for funding this important agency?
Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:47): Thank you, Mr Ettershank, for your supplementary. I have only got a minute to answer this, so perhaps what I can reassure you of is that I meet with the representatives of a number of important peaks that represent lived experience – both workers and consumers – and also representatives of carers across the system. I meet with them regularly. I think it is a fair description that they are disappointed that the lived experience agency was not provided funding in this year’s budget, but I have been able to reassure those advocacy groups and the leaders in the lived experience community that we are absolutely committed to delivering on this recommendation and will work closely with them on delivering on that aspiration and that recommendation of the royal commission.