MATES in Construction has welcomed the Federal Budget’s commitment to mental health and suicide prevention with the allocation of $2.3 billion in funding over the next four years.

The funding package also included $61.6 million to fund suicide prevention strategies and $6.3 million to increase mental health support services for fly-in fly-out drive-in drive-out workers over the same period.

The charity hopes that this will support an important philosophical shift in Australia’s national response to mental health and suicide prevention as outlined in reports including the National Suicide Prevention Adviser’s Final Report and the Productivity Commissioner’s report on the inquiry into mental health.

Developed and refined over the last 14 years, MATES’ fundamental approach to suicide prevention aligns closely with all key recommendations of the Final Report and is detailed in the The Australian Building and Construction Industry Blueprint for Better Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (the Blueprint).

Foremost, MATES supports the emerging accent on evidence-based initiatives that locate early intervention within communities, building the capacity of people to offer support to their peers at the earliest signs of suicide risk.

MATES looks forward to working in the context of this new evidence-based national response that honours the wisdom of people’s lived experience of mental health, and that locates the challenge of suicide prevention within the regular facets of community life.