Doocey MattMATT DOOCEY (National—Waimakariri): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. As the National Party mental health spokesperson I rise on behalf of the National Party to support the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill in its first reading. The reality is all of us will experience good and bad mental health over the course of our lives. In fact we're all in this together and it's our shared experiences that bind us together and give us a pathway forward.If I reflect back to when I was first elected in 2014 an elderly gentleman said to me Matt no need to talk about your mental health background as a politician." I don't blame him for that. I don't agree with him but he talks of a generation that never talked about mental health faced a lot of stigma and were not open to talking about their own mental health issues and needs. Now things have changed quite significantly. We have a younger generation and a not-so-younger generation who are driving politicians forward and I know every member of this House will have been approached and urged by young New Zealanders to do something more around mental health. I want to acknowledge all those who are members of Parliament who have talked about their own mental health issues and experiences.I want to put on the record my own mental health journey. I was involved in a serious car accident when I was a teenager of about 18. I spent a bit of time in Timaru Hospital with head injuries and a few broken bones. Interestingly enough when I look back I was discharged from hospital I had follow-up appointments around my broken bones but I never received any follow-up support about my head injuries. Following that I had a large period of time where I struggled to concentrate. I got very frustrated which led to a lot of anxiety and depression and I dropped out of university where I was studying finance—because of course when you study finance that's the best way to make a lot of money.So things weren't going too well and someone said to me "Why don't you talk to someone about it?" I thought "Well I'm not going to do that. I'm a rugby player; I don't talk to people." But I decided to and it changed my life literally. I was able to deal with some of the issues that I went through and that actually sparked me to go and study counselling psychology. I went on to work in talk therapy roles in the mental health sector which took me to London where I worked for the British National Health Service for 15 years. Eventually I got shoulder-tapped for the dark side which wasn't politics but it was management and I thought "Why would I want to work in the back office when I'd trained to work clinically at the front end?" but I quickly learnt that the shape design and delivery of services has a big impact on the therapeutic alliance as much as the front-end work. Now thankfully I've been able to continue that work around policy and legislation and part of that work is what we're debating today.This mental health commission does seem a bit like Back to the Future. I have spoken to several people who are leaders in the mental health field who say it is time for a new mental health commission but weren't upset when the last one was disestablished. Many in the field thought that mental health commission had lost its way. This one is very different. It's taking a whole-of-system approach because of course we've learnt a lot more in the mental health field over the last decade. Of course now we talk about the recovery model where it's about putting people in the centre of their care. A lot of people with lifelong mental health issues know how to keep themselves well; we just need to listen to them and provide them with the ability to get that support. Also we know now in mental health that we almost need to take mental health out of health. It's a cross-Government agency issue it's a whole-of-system issue and that's exactly what this proposed mental health commission does.But what we are disappointed on this side of the House about is there's no mention of a social investment approach. In fact when you read the detail of this bill it actually speaks volumes to a social investment approach: looking across Government taking a holistic view and thinking about how you can put in investment and really get that bang for the buck. I'll give you a good example. What we used to do with teen parents I believe is what we're doing with people who are sitting on a benefit with mental health issues today. Why I say that is traditionally or historically teen mums—we would put them on the DPB and you know wave them goodbye a bit. History would show they would spend 20 25 30 years on that benefit. Now young mums can engage in schools with a fully flexible education system. Taking that approach which is very much a social investment approach is what we can do with people with mental health issues who are on benefit and want to get back to work.There's a lot of people who say "Well WINZ knows how to get people into employment and knows nothing about mental health." and the mental health services say "Well we know a lot about treating mental illness but don't know much about getting people into employment." That's exactly what a social investment approach will take but it is what all this whole-of-system approach that this bill talks about will take as well—taking a view over social development taking a view over corrections and taking a view over health and a lot of other Government agencies including education. That is the right way forward.National wants to work with the Government on mental health. We have heard the call from the New Zealand public who want us to take a bipartisan approach probably even more than on climate change so we will work with the Government on this. But our focus remains committed to ensuring more front-line services for the growing demand of people with mental health concerns. So we want to make sure this commission will deliver more. Yes of course we need to not only treat people with mental health issues but also promote mental wellbeing and resilience and of course if we can do that better earlier it arguably prevents some people from having issues further down the track. But what this bill must do is ensure that there are more front-line services for those vulnerable New Zealanders. One thing I raised today that I'm hoping we will be able to work through over the course of this bill's going to select committee is what is going to be the role of this mental health commission for commissioning services. Why I raise that is that when you look at international mental health commissions in Western Australia one of the functions is around commissioning. One of the problems we have in New Zealand is we have a postcode lottery for mental health services. There are some regions doing really well and there are some regions that are not. I don't believe it's right that some people are not accessing services because of where they live. In a small country like New Zealand we could have a central commissioning agency not necessarily to do the commissioning in the detail but maybe to provide a templated approach of ensuring that there's the same level of services across every jurisdiction. Melbourne currently has just implemented this. It's a stepped care approach and I think there's real potential in this Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission to take on a function like that to determine what level of services every jurisdiction should have and to then hold those DHBs to account. Many MPs in this House will have heard from the NGO sector who are out there saying that they could be seeing more people and doing a lot better work but unfortunately they're dependent on the DHBs and getting the scraps off them. This is the funding and planning division we have in New Zealand's DHBs. We need to think more about how we can get more resource out to the NGOs and I know that this commission has a function in looking at the services as well. One thing—just to conclude—is that I've heard it said that mental health is 50 years behind physical health. That is how much we have to catch up. There is still a lot to learn and I welcome that this Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission will have a role in looking at developing an evidence base. That's what we need to do: we need to develop an evidence base in New Zealand to inform future direction. As I said we welcome this bill. We want to work with a bipartisan approach to mental health for the betterment of New Zealanders but we also want to see action and more services to respond to that growing demand. Thank you Mr Speaker."