Ms ROSOL question to PREMIER, Mr ROCKLIFF
[11.00 a.m.]
Rising fuel and higher living costs are hitting Tasmanians hard. Lifeline report a large increase in calls to their A Tasmanian Lifeline service since the start of the war. People are saying they feel lost and hopeless. Some can’t eat and others are cancelling important mental health appointments because they can’t afford to go. A Tasmanian Lifeline is right there listening and supporting people when they call, a caring ear providing immediate relief. Funding for the service will end on 30 June. Premier, will you commit to renewing the funding for A Tasmanian Lifeline so they remain there for Tasmanians struggling to cope?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the honourable member for her question and her advocacy for Lifeline, in this case, the A Tasmanian Lifeline service, which is a unique service set up during COVID times. At the time I was minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing and provided that additional funding to Lifeline for A Tasmanian Lifeline. The reason we did that was because those calls being received in Lifeline call centres, if I can use that terminology, can come from right across the country, whereas A Tasmanian Lifeline is specific to people within our state calling in or through a digital format as well. They are able to express their concerns around their wellbeing and get that support for their wellbeing and mental health by A Tasmanian Lifeline caring person on the other end of the phone who has good local knowledge. If my memory serves me correctly, when we set this up in around 2020, we singled out certain industry sectors, and I’m thinking of the fishing sector originally, which was hit really hard by the crayfish export stopping and all those types of things.
I understand the value of the service, Ms Rosol, and I understand the advocacy which has been presented by members of parliament and indeed Lifeline themselves. We want to work with Lifeline, particularly on ensuring that we have robust data and evaluation to support ongoing investment. I’m sure there will be further investment again in the Tasmanian Budget because it’s of value and we want to see the sustainability of the service as well, where evaluation and data is important to ensuring that sustainability as well as the funding. I thank you for your advocacy and I look forward to the Tasmanian Budget delivered on 21 May.
