ALBURY-Wodonga’s bid for a headspace clinic has been given a big thumbs-up by the federal government.
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Mental Health Minister Mark Butler, pictured, said the area had made “a strong case” for one of the centres.
Mr Butler’s support comes in response to a community campaign, driven by The Border Mail, which told his office of the flood of support for a headspace centre.
“Albury-Wodonga is a really important regional community and I understand why local people are so determined to attract a headspace centre to the community,” he said.
“I think there is a strong case for a headspace service in the Albury-Wodonga region.”
The government has been rolling out announcements for about 15 headspace centres at a time.
Albury-Wodonga will be in the mix for a funding round to be announced in July next year.
Mr Butler strongly urged the Border community to keep rallying in support of the headspace campaign.
“The government’s headspace centres have proved enormously successful and popular with 70 having been announced so far,” he said.
“Twenty sites are yet to be allocated and I would really encourage the community to keep working towards the goal of improving mental health services available in the Albury-Wodonga region.”
Member for Farrer Sussan Ley welcomed Mr Butler’s interest, which came after she spent last week in regular contact with his office.
“My discussions with the minister’s office and his public comments suggest these decisions aren’t always based on merit alone,” Ms Ley said.
“There are obviously a number of boxes the government wants ticked and I will assist in making that happen well before the next round of funding.
“If we then need to take a delegation direct to Mark Butler in Canberra to demonstrate the imperative for a headspace here, we’ll do that as well.”
Mr Butler said the modelling to decide which areas were allocated a headspace centre was not done by his office, rather it was left with headspace and the Department of Health and Ageing.
The modelling included consideration of such factors as the level of social disadvantage, the distance from metropolitan areas and the level of youth suicide, substance abuse and mental distress in a particular area.
Mr Butler said this modelling was not done at a “political level”, though Ms Ley has pointed out it was Mr Butler who ultimately signed off on the chosen headspace locations.
He said it was unfortunate not every single community could secure a headspace centre, noting it was an extremely competitive process.
“We’re just trying to do this in the best way possible to balance particularly the number of services in regional Australia with the number of services in metropolitan Australia.”
Mr Butler said a lot of improved services and support for mental health “are being rolled out now”, including the government’s online service.
“At the end of the day we want better mental health services all across Australia and that’s why the government has invested $2.2 billion in our mental health reform package last year,” he said.
