E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
LOGAN
FRIDAY, 29 MARCH 2019
 
SUBJECTS: Labor to create new second headspace in Logan; Liberals’ Budget mismanagement; Liberals’ division and dysfunction; Preference deals with One Nation
 
DES HARDMAN, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FORDE: Hi, my name's Des Hardman, I'm your local Labor candidate for the seat of Forde in the federal election. I'm here today with our Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health, Julie Collins, and my good friend Jim Chalmers, Member for Rankin and Shadow Minister for Finance. It's a pleasure to be here today at headspace, and just for those of you who don't know, I'm a radiographer. I manage the MRI services just across the road here at Logan Hospital. I've done that for 13 years now. And during that time, I've actually been a part of the treatment and services delivered to young people with mental health conditions here in our community. 
 
Through that experience, I've also learnt a lot about headspace and the wonderful work that headspace does in ensuring the health and wellbeing of young people here in Logan. For someone like me, it's great to be here today to have an exciting announcement around an important expansion of services here in Logan for young people in our community, so they can get the services they need to ensure that their wellbeing and health is at their best at a young age. Because that's going to make a big difference to them for the rest of their lives.

It's only a Labor Government that will prioritise essential services like what are delivered here at headspace in Meadowbrook. With that, I'll just hand over to Julie Collins to tell us a bit more about the announcement today.
 
JULIE COLLINS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND AGEING: Thanks Des, and can I thank my colleague Jim Chalmers for also being with me today, and particularly to headspace for hosting us today here at Meadowbrook. I have the real privilege of visiting many headspace sites around the country as the Shadow Minister for Mental Health. One thing that's certain and consistent is the wonderful services that headspace provides. So, on behalf of the Labor team, can I thank you for the work you do day in, day out in the local community looking after young people living with mental ill health. 
 
I'm really pleased to say that a future Labor Government, if we're elected at the next election, will invest in a second full headspace site here in Logan City. What we want to do is ensure that young people in this area get access to the services they need. We know that this headspace site has waiting lists, like many headspaces around the country. What we want to ensure is that additional investments in mental health are made on the basis of evidence and they're made where they're needed. We want to see investments to ensure that people get the services they need when they need it. We know that one in five Australians is living with mental ill health. And we know that for 16 to 24 year olds, that's one in four. The earlier we intervene, and the earlier we provide services, the better outcomes for young people.
 
So I'm really pleased to be here after lobbying from Des and from Jim for these additional services in your local community. It's a wonderful announcement and I'm really pleased to say that Labor will deliver if we're elected at the next election.
 
NICOLE DICKSON, ACTING GENERAL MANAGER AFTERCARE INTEGRATED SERVICES: Thank you very much Julie and Des and Jim, that's really exciting news for us. Certainly in this region, we do see a high demand in our headspace centre here in Meadowbrook. The requirement and access available to young people between here and northern NSW and the Gold Coast region, young people certainly have difficulty accessing services, and there is a high need for it. So it's a really excited announcement to hear that the Federal Government now in future is going to be supporting the continuation and expansion of headspace services. So thank you very much for that.
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: I want to thank all of you for the work that you do here, as Julie said, and as Des said before, you're doing really extraordinary work here. What could be more important than giving our local young people the support that they need to deal with the challenges that they may be dealing with. It's a pleasure to be back here. I think I've been here about a dozen times, or 15 times, over the past few years since you opened, and I really wanted to express my gratitude for the work that you do.
 
I'm so pleased that because of Des' advocacy and Julie Collins' work, we can make this announcement today about an additional headspace in Logan City. There is extraordinary work happening here, but there is also a lot of unmet demand as well, and unmet need. What our local young people really need is more access to more services and more interventions and that's what today is all about. In my other job, apart from being a local member here, as the Shadow Minister for Finance, we're always looking for good investments that we can make, and we can afford to make the investment we are making today because we are being so responsible with the Budget and because we are making multinational corporations pay their fair share of tax. That's what this is all about. 
 
On to some other matters, there is a Budget on Tuesday night. It'll be the sixth Budget of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Governments, their third Treasurer handing down a Budget. And we'll have to wait and see what's in that Budget. We want to see investment in health services in our community in that Budget. We don't know what will be in it but we do know a few things about it. We do know that this economy has stopped working for ordinary people in our communities. We've got slowing growth and record debt and people feel like everything is going up except for their wages. We do know that any desperate handouts six weeks out from an election won't make up for six years of cuts and chaos from the LNP. We do know that any surpluses in the Budget will be built substantially off the back of making Australians with a disability wait for the services that they were promised in the NDIS. And we do know that this Government will always prioritise the top end of town over investment in health services and schools and people of modest means. 
 
One of the reasons why the Government has been such a disaster is because they have been so hopelessly divided and we're seeing that again today when it comes to preferences for the One Nation Party. It is disgraceful that Scott Morrison still can't say that the LNP in Queensland will preference One Nation last on their how-to-vote cards. This is a test of leadership for Scott Morrison and he has failed. When Australians need leadership, when they need unity, he is providing neither.
 
A vote for the Liberal Party in Queensland is a vote for One Nation. It's as simple as that. This is a test of leadership which he is failing.  He is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the extreme right in this country and in Queensland. The only way for Queenslanders to register their opposition to the divisive and extreme policies and politics of the One Nation Party is to support Labor at the next opportunity. 
 
But we're pleased to be making this announcement at headspace Meadowbrook. We thank you all for coming. We're looking forward to having a bit more of a chat and we thank Julie and Des as well, and all of you here who make this such a terrific place. Thanks very much.
 
ENDS