R U OK? Day 2025
Wednesday 15 October
Motions
Ms CLANCY (Elder) (12:48): I begin by indicating the government's support for this motion recognising R U OK? Day, and I thank the member for Frome for bringing this motion before the house. Held every year on the second Thursday of September, R U OK? Day is a national day of action that reminds everyone to check in with those around them, to take the time to ask if they are okay and to listen with empathy and without judgement.
R U OK? Day is a national suicide prevention organisation and registered public health initiative that has changed how we talk about mental health. It encourages open, meaningful conversations that remind us all we are not alone. There are people who care about us and help is available. These conversations can and do save lives. They remind us that mental health affects every family, every workplace and every community right across our state. While 11 September this year was an important reminder, it is important that we remember every day can be an R U OK? Day. Asking that question and listening with empathy only serves to make our state a better place.
In supporting this motion we also acknowledge the incredible work of community groups, leaders, volunteers and individuals who consistently uphold and promote mental wellbeing in their communities. Your contribution is often quiet, too often unseen but it is life-changing and, in many cases, life-saving.
The member for Frome spoke about Kick off ya Boots and John Gladigau, and it was lovely to see him last night for a grains producers' event in the house. Last year I had the privilege of being able to drive up to Loxton—I had to go up and back one night which probably was not the safest—but I saw Kick off ya Boots 2. It was an incredible performance. It was an amazing opportunity to bring people together, particularly from the Riverland, and see a musical written by a local, someone who understands what it is like to work on a farm, to work in these smaller communities and to struggle with mental health. It really opens up those conversations in a really relatable way. It is incredible and I cannot wait to see what John Gladigau gets up to next.
I also wanted to commend the R U OK? campaign and the network of organisations providing mental health support in both the government and non-government sectors. Campaigns like R U OK? Day encourage regular, open conversations that help reduce stigma, increase social connection, enhance community awareness and enable friends, families and colleagues to be really alert to the people around them, connecting someone with appropriate support long before they are in crisis.
Mental health and suicide prevention, as I have said multiple times in this house, are a shared responsibility. It is not only a whole-of-government responsibility: it is a whole-of-community responsibility. This approach helps every South Australian think about how they care for themselves and those around them, whether at home, school, work or in the community.
As always, I am very proud to be part of the Malinauskas government and we are a government that is investing in mental health and suicide prevention. We need a comprehensive health system supporting every South Australian from prevention through to care and recovery. Since our election in 2022, we have invested $1.7 billion to deliver mental health services right across the state with total investment to reach $2.5 billion during this term. That is a 30 per cent increase, funded, compared to the previous state government.
Investment though is not just about the dollar figures, it is about delivering real tangible outcomes for South Australians in need. That is why we are bringing more than 130 new mental health beds online including new rehabilitation units at the Queen Elizabeth, Modbury and Noarlunga hospitals. I do want to thank everybody who was involved in the establishment of the rehabilitation unit at The QEH. The minister and I were joined by the Premier, the fabulous Aria Bolkus, our candidate for Colton, a few weeks ago at the opening of this rehab unit and it looks incredible and it has had so much input from people with lived experience. It was really special to have Brooke, who is one of those consumers, present at the press conference as well to hear her input and her views on the service.
Last week we recognised World Mental Health Day and celebrated another construction milestone on the Northern Crisis Stabilisation Centre. That service is on track to deliver mental health support services from early next year. It is a 16-bed service that will enable people to have up to three days of support, to be able to feel more settled when they have been in mental health crisis or in suicidal distress, and enable them to get support from both mental health clinicians as well as people with lived experience—those peer workers.
It will be co-located with the Medicare Mental Health Centre which will be on the floor beneath and it is going to be a really great place for people to get the support they need while also diverting people from emergency departments.
We have also expanded the mental health co-responder model, which I am a big fan of. It pairs a mental health clinician with a police officer responding to mental health 000 call-outs. Following the successful trials in the Central Adelaide and Northern Adelaide local health networks, which saw more than 2,400 presentations to emergency departments avoided, the Malinauskas Labor government's most recent state budget secures funding for this program over the next five years and expands its reach into the southern suburbs of Adelaide.
We are also building a brand-new 12-bed mental health ward at the new Mount Barker hospital, which will be the first mental health inpatient unit in the Adelaide Hills. As the member for Frome rightly has pointed out in her motion, we know the investment needs to extend beyond metropolitan Adelaide. That is why the Malinauskas Labor government is investing in mental health services for regional and rural South Australia. We have recruited three additional psychiatrists across three regional local health networks and recruited eight additional mental health nurses across regional local health networks to deliver specialist mental health services for older South Australians.
Lifeline Connect centres are continuing in Clare and Port Pirie with the support of a $250,000 investment from the Malinauskas Labor government. We have also opened the Mental Health Alternative Care Service in Port Pirie, which is based at the hospital. In partnership with the Albanese government, we have opened Medicare mental health centres in Mount Barker, Mount Gambier and Port Pirie. We are also building a new six-bed mental health subacute ward at Mount Gambier hospital, which would double the number of mental health beds in the Limestone Coast. We have also introduced one of the first paediatric virtual mental health services in Australia by expanding the Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service at the Women's and Children's Hospital.
In closing, I would like to again thank the member for Frome for moving this motion recognising R U OK? Day. South Australians want the state government, regardless of colour, to provide robust and meaningful investment and support to a public healthcare system that they can be proud of. Our state has a proud history in this space, being the first state to enact legislation dedicated specifically to suicide prevention, legislation that established formal mandated mechanisms for ensuring a focused and coordinated approach to suicide prevention. South Australia now has a really active Suicide Prevention Council and state Suicide Prevention Plan, as well as 41 suicide prevention networks.
Over the last three years, I have had the immense privilege of meeting with many of these suicide prevention networks, run by incredible volunteers, seeing firsthand the work they do in their communities to reduce stigma, foster connectedness, and empower their communities to intervene early and support those affected by suicide. We see you and we thank you so much for asking that question and listening with empathy and going above and beyond every day to support your communities and suicide prevention. Let's all make every day an R U OK? Day. I commend the motion.