Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I'd like to read the words of territory year 12 student Taylor Mills written for the Raise Our Voice in parliament campaign. Taylor says: 'Last year, 35 per cent of young Australians reported psychological distress. My parents are supportive and try their best to understand, but I've seen the effects on my close friends and others when they grow up in a family which isn't aware of mental health issues and mistake it for their teenager being lazy or moody. Right now so many young people feel that they have no-one supporting them and cannot afford the help of professionals.

'I want to see more adult awareness of youth mental health. Every suicide means something isn't working. Suicide rarely happens without warning, so, the more educated we are about the warning signs and not confusing those behaviours with normal teen moods, the better we can help people.

'Us young people are the next future leaders. In 20 years I hope that, instead of looking at high rates of youth mental illness, Australia will see our young people reaching high and becoming politicians, doctors and nurses, teachers and artists.'

Thank you very much, Taylor, for raising your voice to parliament.