It’s great to be here – and I know the statistics about suicide are very grim, but we can be pleased for this, that for many years, forever perhaps, suicide and mental illness has been a taboo subject, but today we are talking about it, we are recognising it. We are recognising what we know to be true, which is that our greatest assets are all of you, are all of us – 24 million Australians – and we know that mental illness is the single largest debilitation of working age people, the single largest diminution of the wealth, the mental wealth of our nation.
We recognise the gravity of this. Alan Fells, a member of the Mental Health Commission said recently that based on international analysis mental illness costs a developed country like ours 4 per cent of GDP. That is massive. We have a vital, vested, national interest in addressing it.
We have to deliver mental health services in a more agile, flexible and modern way. We have to make the best use of 21st century technology. We have to be able to engage with people who are seeking help over the telephone, certainly, but over their smartphone. We have to be engaged on the platforms, the social media platforms that people use and understand today.
Now, last month we released – Sussan Ley and I, the Minister – we’ve released the response to the National Mental Health Commission’s review of mental health programmes and services. Our response is a three year strategy designed to change the way we deliver mental health services, focussing on early intervention, prevention and enhanced primary care. They’re designed to ensure that people at the risk of suicide are better supported by their local community. It’s designed to put the individual at the centre of the mental health system, providing real choice.
As Sussan Ley said most elegantly, this is designed to get around from the idea that one size fits all and have a step-care model which recognises that individuals all have differing needs. The right care when they need it and where they need it and so primary health networks will assess need and commission care, local solutions - it's a landmark shift in thinking.
We’ll establish an IT gateway, a single web-based portal and telephone service of course, so people can access information when and where they want it. I know Lifeline has welcomed this as a very positive step in the delivery of mental health services.
We have to be as agile and as dynamic, as innovative in the delivery of mental health services as we must be right across the economy, right across the country. Above all, we've got to be able to reach people when they need help. As John was saying earlier, that is often in the wee hours of the morning. We've got to be able to have, use the platforms that enable us to do that.
I'm delighted to be here to support Lifeline. I want to encourage all of you to be very, very generous. This is a time of love and generosity at Christmas and you can do no better than give generously to Lifeline today.
Can I note that Lifeline gets – as it should – substantial funding from government and you know every dollar that you give will buy Lifeline no more than $1 from the Government. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar. But there’s something else – the money you give, or the time you give as a Lifeline volunteer comes wrapped with your love. It comes with your passion, it comes with your compassion, your human understanding that you are helping to save lives. It comes with your advocacy and your commitment. It comes with all the potency of you as an individual and that makes it special. So please make sure that you fill in those pledge cards. Make sure that you are generous today. You are saving lives today. This is not a lunch, this is a life-saving lunch. This is a time to put the resources behind the people who save lives.
Now John mentioned The Gap and I want to say, I want to thank Lifeline for their help in the measures, various measures that have been made there at The Gap, Lifeline obviously is a source of response for people who are there and are troubled and can call Lifeline and there has been some great changes to the infrastructure there, fences that are hard to get over, but easier to get back over if you get over them and change your mind. There's a very complex set of measures there to deal with The Gap.
I'm moved today to think again of Don Richie, who died in 2012 at 85. Don was the angel of The Gap. I'm sure you've all read about him, an extraordinarily tall man, big in stature, but much bigger in heart and what Don did was whenever he could, whenever he was out there, if he saw somebody unhappy, troubled there at The Gap he would chat to them. He'd invite them to come and have a cup of tea. He'd talk to them, he'd open his heart and in doing so, he saved so many lives.
So that's what Lifeline does. It opens its heart. The volunteers open their hearts and today, open your hearts as well and give them the support that they deserve and that we all need to commit to, because my friends we're all in this together. You, all of us, are our greatest assets. Our mental health, the mental health of every single individual is a matter of vital concern to every other Australian.
Thank you very much.