Pressure is mounting on the state government over its youth mental health spending priorities after drawing criticism from both Mandurah MP David Templeman and federal Canning MP Andrew Hastie.
Mr Templeman used his budget reply speech on Wednesday to plead for more resources in the region to help young people tackle mental health and suicide.
“In my electorate we now face a situation, in which important services now cannot be funded because of the waste, the poor priorities and the poor stewardship of the economy by the Barnett Government,” he told parliament.
Mr Templeman said since February, “from the southern part of Rockingham through Mandurah into the Peel up to seven young people take their lives in the region”.
Last week, mental health minister Andrea Mitchell struggled to explain the $8.9 million the Mental Health Commission had budgeted to move offices, while it refused to pay for a vital Mandurah youth mental health program.
Mr Templeman called on the state government to immediately find money to pay for GP down south’s 3-Tier Youth Mental Health Program.
“This is a program that is ready to go,” he said.
“It has been evaluated, it is effective and it is ready to roll out.
“All we need, all I am asking from the Minister for Mental Health is $400,000 over 3 years, surely our kids are worth that.”
Mr Templeman said he had written to the Minister for Mental Health inviting her to meet with him and discuss the program so she could see for herself just how effective it would be to the youth of the region.
Canning MP Andrew Hastie blasted the money the Mental Health Commission had planned to spend moving their office.
“It's disappointing to hear about the exorbitant cost of the Mental Health Commission office relocation,” he said.
“It sounds like wasteful government bureaucracy spending while service providers at the coalface are left to scrounge for resources.
“In my previous career, we likened this approach to that of a self-licking ice-cream.”
Mr Hastie said the region desperately needed finds for the Peel Youth Medical Service Health-Hub, which is planned as a bricks-and-mortar solution to young people struggling with mental health problems or drug abuse.