Budget shows shift in attitudes towards aged care, mental health, long overdue in Federal Government

I used to spend time tweezing ingrown hairs. Now I hunt for stray greys. Change. It really creeps up on you. Not just via our bodies’ seemingly endless grooming needs. Or the way we spend our spare time in the bathroom. But change, or evolution — which is legitimate and not just hollow promises like “I’ll start at the gym on Monday” or “I’ll just have two Tim Tams” — generally happens more subtly over time. Profound change should shake you and your world view to the core. And it’s been a subtle theme of the week, which is odd, given it’s nerd Christmas — also more commonly known as Budget Week. Weird because the notion of change and the Coalition don’t generally go hand-in-glove. Whatever your reading of Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s “recover and rebuild” Budget or Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s “no Australian left behind” reply, one thing is for sure: the coming change is absolute necessary. And particularly overdue for the elderly, women and Indigenous Australians. But sometimes it’s the timeline of changes that preoccupies many of us in the peanut gallery instead of the bigger picture. There was a lot of commentary, mine included, on how this 2021-22 Budget was “Labor-lite”. There hasn’t been a women’s statement since about 2014. This year we got 87 pages of plans for financial and social security. Anyone who has ever experienced the aged-care sector could tell you it needs a complete overhaul. Here’s hoping the allocated $17.7 billion ensures our most treasured Australians get the top-tier care they worked for and deserve. The focus on mental health struck a chord for me. The rollout of a national suicide prevention office would be a concept too foreign for former Liberal governments, even from five years ago, to understand, let alone establish. I grew up in a community that made the stiff upper lip look like a toothy Hollywood grin. Financial woes, health issues and tragedy were seemingly everywhere but everyone picked themselves up by their bootlaces and stoically soldiered on. At least it seemed. My grandmother lost a son in a farming accident when he was 14. She ached for him every day. Not that you’d know. When another family experienced the same tragedy many years later I recall her quietly telling the bereaved mother, “The best thing to do is lock yourself in your room and howl until you can’t any more”. She never shed a public tear. She barely mentioned his name after his burial. His siblings have also since passed so I have no memories of a darling late uncle who left an enormous hole in our family and the wider, close-knit community he was too briefly apart of. Sure, it was late 1950s and times were different. But imagine the difference knowing there was wider support or a willingness to deal with things like grief, distress, anxiety and all those other “feels”, which we in the younger generation can identify. COVID has given us all a massive opportunity to reset. To adapt, change and evolve. Including our leaders and their parties. The Liberals — not known for their social bent — pledging funds and policy to help people maintain or repair their mental health sends a bigger message than the $2.3 billion package. If this Government finally recognises mental health and is prioritising it — we’ve come a long way, baby. “We all know, pretty much every family in this country is touched by the impacts of mental health challenges. We are doubling down on the contribution that we can make to boost the wellbeing of Australians, to improve their mental health and protect them and their wellbeing in the future,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told me this week. One big criticism, though, was the lack of funding allocated for frontline services — for those seeking appointments with psychologists — and how those needing tertiary care are treated. Premier Mark McGowan already knows what’s up, having installed a specific Minister for Mental Health earlier this year, recognising it’s a sector which needs vigilant attention. Real change takes work, commitment and time. But it’s up to us to continue to speak out about what we value and want as a community. That way it may even happen overnight. Lifeline 13 11 14