Senator CHANDLER (Tasmania) (11:57): It is a privilege to respond to the Governor-General's address and to the extensive agenda of the Morrison coalition government. As the Governor-General referenced in his address, at the 2019 election more than 15 million Australians had their say about what they want from their government and their parliament over the next three years. Hardworking Australians made a simple and humble demand that their aspirations for their future be respected and supported by those they elected. That's why hardworking Australians voted for a government that understands them and understands that they are focused on raising their families, running their businesses, working hard, volunteering and caring for their family and friends. That's exactly what the Morrison government promised, and that is exactly what the Morrison government is delivering. We are firmly committed to a platform to keep the economy strong and to pursue policies that ensure Australians keep more of the money they work so hard to earn, and to give them more freedom and opportunity to make their own choices about their priorities in life. We saw this come to fruition in the very first week of the 46th Parliament. Tax relief for more than 10 million working Australians was delivered. Around $1,000 of their own money has gone straight back into the pockets of these hardworking Australians as they complete this last financial year's tax return. Doing this, putting this commitment into legislation as the first order of business of the 46th Parliament, clearly demonstrates that, as a government, we meant exactly what we said during the election campaign, that Australians who work hard should be rewarded by their government through the lowest possible taxes. In contrast, we have a Labor opposition that took to the election a high-taxing, high-spending agenda which was resoundingly rejected by the Australian people. Surprisingly, when it came time to debate our tax relief legislation, they still hadn't learnt their lesson and tried their best to prevent the full tax relief plan from passing the parliament. As we stand here today we are still no clearer on whether Labor will retain that high-taxing agenda, as many in their ranks want to do, or listen to the election outcome and the people of Australia. It is vitally important that the government continues to have a sound fiscal policy that supports a strong economy. That starts with fostering a healthy budget bottom line. I believe the Treasurer has done a magnificent job to put the budget back in the black while also delivering sensible and affordable tax relief to Australians. This responsible fiscal management will support our economy to continue to grow and prosper over the coming decades. In my own state of Tasmania, the Morrison government is delivering a total investment in infrastructure of over $2.7 billion, including an additional $313 million in transport infrastructure to bust congestion, improve safety and unlock greater productivity through our businesses and exporters. A more efficient transport network equates to lower costs for Tasmanian businesses in getting their product to market, which means more opportunities for businesses to grow and to employ more people. There is no doubt that job creation is firmly at the centre of the Morrison government's agenda. I welcome the investment by the government in supporting Tasmania's growth industries. As I outlined in my first speech in this place, ensuring there are more opportunities in our state for young Tasmanians, particularly employment opportunities, is front of mind for me as a new senator. That's why I'm so pleased that this government is investing heavily across a range of industries in Tasmania, where there are proven opportunities for growth and job creation. For example, we're investing $100 million for the next tranche of irrigation schemes across our state. That will lead to great new opportunities and enhanced water security for Tasmanian farmers. The benefits of previous investments in irrigation schemes around Tasmania by the federal coalition government and the state Liberal government are very clear. This future investment is eminently sensible and timely in its commitment to ensuring our state can continue to increase our exports of premium agricultural products to the nation and the world. It's not always well understood on mainland Australia that Tasmania is susceptible to drought. Indeed, many of the farmers on the east coast and south-east have done it very tough in recent years because of extremely dry conditions. That's why it has been great to see this government establish the Future Drought Fund, with $100 million available each year to invest in drought preparedness and recovery programs. The fund is a very welcome initiative for rural communities all over Australia. We know how tough it is in so many parts of the country at the moment, and we must as a nation do everything we can to support our farmers, because we know that this won't be our last drought experience. Further evidence of our government's jobs creation agenda can be seen through our support of the Marinus Link second interconnector as part of Tasmania's Battery of the Nation pumped hydro plans. This exciting new project is very welcome, particularly in the north and north-west of our state, where these projects will create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly. Furthermore, Battery of the Nation and its associated infrastructure will play an integral role in ensuring Australians have access to reliable and renewable energy into the future. We are also supporting the Tasmanian Defence Innovation and Design Precinct at the Australian Maritime College and the blue economy research centre, and investing in tourist infrastructure upgrades at Freycinet National Park and Cradle Mountain. In the south of the state, the government is cementing Tasmania as Australia's Antarctic gateway with $2.8 billion of investment. These policies are just some of a long list of job-creating and supporting investments by this government in Tasmania and across the whole country. They are a stark contrast to the platform that Labor put forward at the election and continue desperately to cling to. As the Governor-General's address noted, when you have a strong economy and good budget management you can invest more in the services that Australians need. Indeed, the Morrison government is investing an extra $31 billion in public hospitals over the next five years, providing funding for more emergency department visits, outpatient services, needed scans and surgeries, and treatments of life-threatening illnesses and diseases. We're investing $308 million into reducing the cost of life-changing medicines for Australians, especially those who have chronic conditions that require multiple medications. We're putting almost $740 million into youth mental health and suicide prevention strategies. This is an incredibly important initiative, particularly for regional and rural Australia, where suicide is such a big issue and something that we as a community must do more to address. There is always more to do in the health space, and I know that this government will continue to work with the states to ensure Australians have access to the best possible health services. In my maiden speech I referenced the importance of education and training to Tasmania, and I'm very pleased with the commitment the government has made to boost educational outcomes and, in particular, skills training to ensure that our young people are job ready. Over the next decade, the government will increase funding for all primary and secondary schools across all sectors by an average of 62 per cent per student. This $310 billion investment is a commitment to deliver the world-class education system that will equip Australia for the decades ahead. We also have $585 million invested in a commitment to training to improve skills, including creating 80,000 new apprenticeships and establishing 10 new industry training hubs in key locations of high youth unemployment in regional Australia. Burnie, in north-west Australia, was one of 10 locations of elevated youth unemployment across Australia that has been selected to host an industry training hub, which will strengthen partnerships between local schools, employers and industries, and ensure that vocational education programs are tailored to meet the local workforce needs and skills demands. I certainly applaud this important initiative being rolled out in my own home state. Under this education program, young people aged between 15 and 24 in training hub areas will be able to apply for a scholarship to undertake an eligible VET approved program of study. Across the nation, 400 scholarships valued at up to $17,500 each will be made available, from certificate III to advanced diploma level. All of these investments which I've outlined here today are made possible by strong economic management and having the budget back on track. I'd like to conclude by strongly supporting the sentiments at the conclusion of the Governor-General's address, in which he said: Democracy is a robust undertaking, and disagreement is a fundamental part of that contest of ideas. As the Prime Minister has often noted, the challenge of modern democracies is not to disagree less but to disagree better. I cannot agree more with these sentiments. We will always have our disagreements and our debates in this place, whether it's here between elected members or in the community between citizens. But in an age where disagreements often seem to be becoming more heated, and arguments more vitriolic and even abusive, it is more important than ever to remember that in our great country, in Australia, we all have a right to voice our opinion and every other person in our country has the right to respond in a responsible and dignified manner. This debate should only be encouraged because it is by this contest of ideas that, I believe, good policy outcomes are reached. To that end, freedom of speech is certainly an essential part of what makes our country so great, and we in this place and across this country must never lose sight of that. Senator SCARR: It is with great honour that I rise to speak in reply to the Governor-General's address. I think at the outset we should reflect, as the Governor-General did, on this country's very strong foundations. We're in our 28th year of consecutive economic growth. We have a strong social security safety net; universal health care; a strong, comprehensive education system; and, on 18 May earlier this year, all Australians came together peacefully at the ballot box and cast their votes in a democratic election. We are one of the longest ever continuous democracies on the face of the planet, so we should reflect on those strengths in our society as we consider the address. One of the themes coming through the Governor-General's address is the cohesive plan that this government has for this country's future over the next three years. The government's agenda is predicated on empowering the people of this country, empowering their aspirations, empowering their inherent entrepreneurial spirit and empowering them to make decisions which are in their best interests and the best interests of their families. I would like to make some responses to some of the previous speakers. Senator Siewert did refer to the government's initiative with respect to the cashless welfare debit card. There is no question that the senator comes to this debate with great passion and great empathy for people who are doing it tough in our society, but I must respectfully say that I disagree with some of the assertions that were made in that speech. As I've referred to in previous debates on this subject—in particular, last week—the member for Hinkler, Mr Keith Pitt, has drawn attention to the fact that he has seen a very positive response to the implementation of the cashless welfare debit card in his seat of Hinkler. Over the course of the last 12 months, we have seen the rate of youth unemployment in the seat of Hinkler, in the wider area of Wide Bay, fall from 27.6 per cent in June 2018 to 18.4 per cent in June 2019—a fall of 9.2 per cent. It is quite an astounding result. When you look at the comparative increases in youth unemployment across Queensland, you see that Wide Bay is a stand-out. So there is some positive evidence with respect to the results of the introduction of the cashless welfare debit card. I would have thought that everyone in this place would simply want to see those young people who currently don't have the opportunity to engage in work and have the benefit of the dignity of work get a chance to break through to the workforce and be everything they possibly can be. I'd also like to make some comments with respect to Senator Abetz's contribution in this place. I could not agree more that the coalmining industry is an industry integral to my home state of Queensland. At the last federal election, Queenslanders sent an unequivocal message to this place that they understand the importance of that industry to my home state of Queensland. There are thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in royalties and opportunities for small and large businesses across my state presented by the coalmining industry and, more generally, by the resources industry in my home state of Queensland. I would like to touch on the issue of mental health, in particular, in my response in this debate on the address-in-reply to the Governor-General's speech. It would be 25 or 26 years ago that, as a member of the Queensland Young Liberals, I wrote a policy paper, which was adopted at a Young Liberals national convention, entitled 230,000 lost years: the scourge of youth suicide. Here we are, 25 or 26 years later, still grappling with this extraordinarily difficult issue. It does give me a lot of hope that everyone sitting in this Senate chamber, those on all sides, understand the importance of us, as a federal parliament, addressing this issue. For me, one of the highlights of the federal election campaign was when, in one of the debates between the leaders, the Prime Minister and the opposition leader were asked: 'Can you tell us one thing about the other which you actually admire? How would you compliment the other leader, your opponent, with respect to how they've conducted themselves with respect to their beliefs?' And the then opposition leader complimented the Prime Minister with respect to his passion in addressing the issue of youth suicide. So there certainly is a spirit of bipartisanship, a spirit that extends across all parties, with respect to attempting to address the issue of youth suicide, which is addressed in the Governor-General's speech. Over the five-year period from 2013 to 2017 the average number of suicide deaths per year in this country was 2,918. Queensland recorded the largest increase in suicide deaths: 804 in 2017 compared with 674 in 2016. The figures from 2017 with respect to youth suicide make for sobering reading indeed. In 2017, there were 16 suicides between the ages of zero and 14, 106 between the ages of 15 and 19, and 195 between the ages of 20 and 24. There were a total of 2,348 male suicides. In relation to female youth, in 2017 there were eight suicides between the ages of zero and 14—it is hard to comprehend that—there were 50 between the ages of 15 and 19, and there were 53 between the ages of 20 and 24. There were a total of 780 female suicides. In 2017, the total number of suicides in this country was 3,128. It's not just an issue of the young people who took their own lives; it's also an issue of those people who are left behind—parents who are left grieving and considering whether or not they are guilty in some way with respect to what has happened to their children, and friends asking themselves whether they could have taken additional steps to look after their loved ones to try and prevent the tragedy that occurred. So it's extraordinarily important that we have this discussion about suicide generally and youth suicide in particular. It's also been noted that there is a particular issue with respect to the rates of suicide in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In 2017 the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide was twice that for non-Indigenous people. Suicide accounts for 40 per cent of all deaths of Indigenous children. One life lost to suicide is one too many. Last week, the government announced it is investing $4.5 million in the proud spirit Australia program to deliver a national plan for culturally appropriate care and make suicide prevention services available and accessible to First Australians, no matter where they live. In addition, the government is investing $963,000 to establish the Centre of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Mental Illness and Suicide Network. The Black Dog Institute and the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention at the University of Western Australia will work together to deliver this initiative. But it's not just about government; I think it's about each and every one of us reflecting upon what we can do as individuals to address the scourge of youth suicide. William Styron is a well-known author who famously wrote the book Sophie's Choice.After someone who he admired a great deal committed suicide, he went public, in a beautifully written memoir called Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, where he spoke about his own experiences dealing with depression. I want to read some excerpts from that book today: … the pain of severe depression is quite unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne. The prevention of many suicides will continue to be hindered until there is a general awareness of the nature of this pain. It's incumbent on each and every one of us to reflect on that, to try and understand, when we have colleagues, friends and family who are battling with depression, the pain they're going through and provide as much support to them as possible. We are still battling a stigma in our society. Talking about his own experience with depression, Styron wrote: So the decision-making of daily life involves not, as in normal affairs, shifting from one annoying situation to another less annoying—or from discomfort to relative comfort, or from boredom to activity—but moving from pain to pain. One does not abandon, even briefly, one’s bed of nails, but is attached to it wherever one goes. And this results in a striking experience—one which I have called, borrowing military terminology, the situation of the walking wounded. For in virtually any other serious sickness, a patient who felt similar devastation would by lying flat in bed, possibly sedated and hooked up to the tubes and wires of life-support systems, but at the very least in a posture of repose and in an isolated setting. His invalidism would be necessary, unquestioned and honorably attained. However, the sufferer from depression has no such option and therefore finds himself, like a walking casualty of war, thrust into the most intolerable social and family situations. There he must, despite the anguish devouring his brain, present a face approximating the one that is associated with ordinary events and companionship. He must try to utter small talk, and be responsive to questions, and knowingly nod and frown and, God help him, even smile. But it is a fierce trial attempting to speak a few simple words. That's William Styron recounting his battle with depression, which he bravely wrote about in Darkness Visible:A Memoir of Madness. It is important that we all consider those words and consider what empathy and understanding we can give to people who are suffering from depression. It's also important that, once people have gone through that journey and are on the road to recovery, once they've overcome that stigma of whether or not they should report their illness to a doctor and once they've gotten that help, we assist them to come back into the general workings of our society, our workplaces, social engagements et cetera and understand that they may well need ongoing treatment in order to minimise the risk that they might add to those suicide statistics that I read out earlier today. In this regard I would like to quote Andrew Solomon, who wrote a book called The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression—again, a depression sufferer who went public to try and increase understanding of what it is like to suffer from depression. He said: Since I am writing a book about depression, I am often asked in social situations to describe my own experiences, and I usually end by saying that I am on medication. 'Still?' people ask. 'But you seem fine!' To which I invariably reply that I seem fine because I am fine, and that I am fine in part because of medication. 'So how long do you expect to go on taking this stuff?' people ask. When I say that I will be on medication indefinitely, people who have dealt calmly and sympathetically with the news of suicide attempts, catatonia, missed years of work, significant loss of body weight, and so on stare at me with alarm. 'But it's really bad to be on medicine that way,' they say. 'Surely now you are strong enough to be able to phase out some of these drugs!' If you say to them that this is like phasing the carburettor out of your car or the buttresses out of Notre Dame, they laugh. 'So maybe you'll stay on a really low maintenance dose?' they ask. You explain that the level of medication you take was chosen because it normalizes the systems that can go haywire, and that a low dose of medication would be like removing half of your carburettor. You add that you have experienced almost no side effects from the medication you are taking, and that there is no evidence of negative effects of long-term medication. You say that you really don't want to get sick again. But wellness is still, in this area, associated not with achieving control of your problem, but with discontinuation of medication. 'Well, I sure hope you get off it sometime soon,' they say. I think there is a lesson there that there needs to be an understanding that, where people who have, potentially, dealt with suicide attempts have gotten help and are on the road to recovery, that road to recovery may require treatment over a long period of time. So I'm proud to be part of a government which is building a mental health system that is integrated, simplified, trusted and comprehensive and which is increasing mental health funding to $4.8 billion this year to provide new funding for community mental health and mental health research, assistance to prevent suicide, telehealth access for psychological services in regional areas and support for current and former ADF personnel, as well as funding an additional 30 headspace services by 2020, including in my home state of Queensland, and new specialist residential facilities for eating disorders. The government's $503.1 million Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan is the largest suicide prevention strategy in Australia's history. It's one we should all be proud of as we seek to introduce measures to address the scourge of youth suicide and suicide more generally. And it is part of an overall plan which is dealt with in the Governor-General's address to this place, including with respect to the economy, trade, education, health, environment and the Pacific step-up plan, which I referred to in my first speech last week. It is all part of a coherent, integrated plan which I consider to be in the best interests of my home state of Queensland. In performing my duties over the course of the next six years, I take very seriously my obligation to deliver that plan for the people of Queensland, because that is what they voted for on 18 May earlier this year.