12. Question No. 12—Mental HealthINGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri) to the Minister for Mental HealthQuestion No. 12—Mental Health12. INGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri) to the Minister for Mental Health: Does he stand by his statement under this Government mental health will be a priority"; if so what actions if any has he taken to make mental health a priority?Hon MATT DOOCEY (Minister for Mental Health): In answer to the first part of the member's question yes in the context of the full quote of establishing a mental health strategy within the Pae Ora legislation for the first time where I said "Why not have a strategy on X or Y or Z? Yeah I agree … it comes down to priorities and under this Government mental health will be a priority—that's why we're legislating it as one of the strategies under the Pae Ora health reforms." In answer to the second part: establishing the role of New Zealand's first mental health Minister which now includes the responsibility of the almost $2.5 billion of ring-fenced mental health and addiction funding.Ingrid Leary: Is the Minister's answer that in 80 days the only real action he has taken as the Minister for Mental Health is to support his former member's bill?Hon MATT DOOCEY: I've enjoyed working with mental health professional bodies to grow the pipeline of mental health professionals and I look forward to making announcements about this in due course.Ingrid Leary: Has he set a target to reduce mental health specialist wait times and can he assure lower South Islanders they won't have to wait longer for mental health specialist services than those elsewhere?Hon MATT DOOCEY: Well I won't be lectured by that member when today we published a report in the House from the Auditor-General that says more young people are waiting longer for specialist services when they came into Government—shame on them.SPEAKER: Yeah that's good that's good but the question was about now so could the Minister have another crack at addressing that.Hon MATT DOOCEY: I've been reviewing the mental health Budget announcements of the last Government to identify underspend so I can get the money out of Wellington to the front line to address waiting times and I look forward to making announcements about that in due course.Ingrid Leary: Does he stand by his statement that being Minister for Mental Health is "also a role of advocacy where I can go to those Ministers and say you know 'What are we doing in this space and can we do better?' " and if so what projects has he advocated for in the Government's first hundred days?Hon MATT DOOCEY: I've been working with other Government departments to develop a cross-Government approach to mental health and I look forward to making announcements about that cross-Government approach in due course.Ingrid Leary: What recent reports has he seen on the link between mental health and financial stress and has he asked the Minister for social development to reverse her decision to index benefits in line with inflation which will push more New Zealanders into poverty?SPEAKER: That really wasn't a question but anyway.Hon MATT DOOCEY: Well yeah the report I have seen sadly is the one published today in the House at 2 o'clock from the Auditor-General after I wrote to him in April 2022 because of the promised funding the last Government announced yet it made no material difference. The report findings are clear: things have got worse there's no workforce plan and basically they failed in mental health."