Unmet Needs Report

The Hon. C. BONAROS (14:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Deputy Premier, representing the Minister for Health and Wellbeing in the other place, and in his capacity as Deputy Premier in this place, a question regarding the unmet need for psychosocial supports.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: The final inquiry report of the Productivity Commission's review of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement was publicly released yesterday. The report's findings reveal the flawed nature of the current agreement and the need for a new co-design policy architecture, with 26 recommendations for reform provided. Many of those recommendations will fall under the purview of the government's federal counterparts, but I will draw this chamber's attention to recommendation 2.2, and I quote:

Governments should immediately address the unmet need for psychosocial support outside the National Disability Insurance Scheme. State and territory governments, in consultation with primary health networks and the Australian government, should immediately prioritise commissioning services to address the unmet need for psychosocial supports outside the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The Deputy Premier may recall that in June of this year a motion passed this chamber calling on the Malinauskas Labor government to provide a formal response to the findings and recommendations of the Unmet Needs Report by September 2025. It is now November 2025 and there has been no formal response to that call. My questions, therefore, are:

1. Is there an acceptable reason that the government has ignored the will of the parliament and failed to produce a response to the Unmet Needs Report?

2. Will the government finally provide a formal response to that report 2½ years after its publication now that a federal statutory authority has recommended it do so?

3. With less than two weeks now remaining in terms of sitting days, when can this chamber expect a response to something that we have all voted in favour of?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for her questions. There is a peripheral nexus to my portfolios in that only in recent years have we included psychosocial hazards in terms of work health and safety laws and the need to provide a safe workplace for a person undertaking a business. In relation to unmet need in the health system, I am going to have to refer those elements on to the health minister, but I will be happy to do so and bring back a reply.