Bendigo East candidates forum 2018: Mental health services, hospital funding

The cost to access counsellors, psychologists and ongoing treatment for mental health is too high. Now that we have a new hospital, what will you do to improve service provision in this area?

Jacinta Allan (Labor)

Investing in the building of a new hospital is important, but equally too is supporting the nurses, the Allied Health services that go on inside the hospital.

A re-elected Andrews Labor government will fund and deliver an additional 1100 nurses into our hospital system.

Unlike the previous Liberal National government that cut $1 billion out of our health system, we will make that investment.

But particularly on mental health, we recognise that this is a challenge that goes beyond just one box, or just one portfolio in government, and that’s why the premier announced a couple of weeks ago in Kyneton that we would hold a royal commission into this really difficult and challenging area.

Part of it is about addressing the treatment and the service side, but it’s also about prevention, it’s also about building resilience, it’s also about providing support to those who support people with a mental illness.

I do note that’s not something that has been welcomed by all the candidates around this table, which is a bit of a shame. We would have thought that a royal commission into mental health is something that would have had bipartisan support. Sadly, it hasn’t.

It’s something that a re-elected Andrews Labor government will push and deliver, just as we delivered the Family Violence Royal Commission.

Ian Ellis (Liberal)

There’s a consistent claim by Labor that they built the hospital.

They were in government while it was built. They did not fund it. They funded part of it. When the Liberals came into power, which what I will say - for the last 19 years - Labor have been in power for 15 of those years.

When the Liberals came into government they looked for plans to expand on for the hospital - there were none. All that was available were press releases and any of this can be verified by Hansard.

Jacinta Allan

The business case?

Ian Ellis

You say a ‘business case’, that’s fine. Where’s the plans for the hospital?

Jacinta Allan

In the business case, you have the plan to deliver something, and that’s what’s in the business case that was put together when Daniel Andrews was health minister.

Ian Ellis

I don’t see any point in running another royal commission. What is needed, is more funding in mental health, not somebody telling people where it’s needed. Because the same people that will give evidence in a royal commission, will also give advice to sitting governments on where the money would go.

You don’t need to spend another $13 million on a royal commission to determine that.

Helen Leach (DLP)

I see a great need for more mental health services and I’m pretty disappointed that Jacinta hasn’t delivered on it already seeing as she’s been in for 19 years.

For the last four years, Daniel Andrews hasn’t done anything either. All of a sudden there’s an election and let’s throw money everywhere, let’s have a royal commission for mental health. What they need is rehabilitation beds and that’s something that the DLP will support.

Gaelle Broad (Nationals)

Under Labor there’s actually been reduced funding for mental health and part of the challenge with that has been the increase in population. We’re now in a position where we’re having to catch up in order to make sure that we do have the funding services there for the population that we have.

Jacinta Allan

On that claim that we’ve cut funding, that’s just factually incorrect and there’s not one page of the budget paper that’s been handed down in the last four years that would verify that claim.

We acknowledge in saying that we want to hold a royal commission into this area that there is a hell of a lot more work to be done. We’re not suggesting that politicians have all the answers in this incredibly complicated and complex policy area.

I would not think that it should be inferenced at all that it is a waste of money to hold a royal commission into something like this, into something like family violence.

If you look at the huge reform that’s been achieved in family violence, and the potential that we can bring to the mental health space, that really should be welcomed and embraced and not tossed away in political debate.

Nakita Thomson (Greens)

Victoria now has the lowest per capita expenditure on mental health in the country.

That needs a fact check, that Labor have cut the funding, because the Liberals have more of a tradition of doing that.

In regards to the Greens’ policy, we are promising $200 million over four years to restore funding to community mental health services to provide to people who are not NDIS eligible.

We are also wanting to invest $12 million to construct new dedicated clinical intervention and recovery care facilities.

Those policies are fully costed by the parliamentary budget office so they are affordable.

Michael Belardinelli (Independent)

When the funding is given, all politicians should talk to social workers, carers, people with mental issues, nurses, talk to the people and they will tell you where the money is needed, instead of splashing it around - go to the source.