The State Labor Government has misled the East Gippsland community in relation to a new mental health hub being open in Bairnsdale.

Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said the government issued a media release (that was reported on locally) on September 6 saying the new mental health and wellbeing centre promised for Bairnsdale was “officially open”, when in fact it isn’t.

“Knowing it was a service I have been advocating for, a number of enquiries were made to my office from constituents seeking information about its location. It has only been this week we have been able to receive an answer from the government that the service won’t be operational at least until December.

“Given the government will not correct its statement, I simply wanted the people of East Gippsland to know it is still some months away,” said Mr Bull.

“Having raised the need for additional services with outreach capacity since the bushfires nearly four years ago, I was pleased we received a commitment to have two hubs established in this region at Bairnsdale and Orbost.

“They were meant to be in place by ‘mid 2023’ but were delayed and hence I was pleasantly surprised to read the state-wide media release that the Bairnsdale facility was open - the only problem being no-one could find it!

“This week the government came clean that we are still some months away, with a procurement process currently being negotiated to select a service provider.

“The Minister also said, ‘outcomes of this procurement process are anticipated to be announced later this year with initial service commencement expected in December 2023’.

“This timeline, which I received Thursday, only allows 11 weeks for all this to happen before Christmas and, while I am hopeful the government can meet this date, I have grave doubts given their track record.

“I cannot see how they have not yet arrived at determining a service provider and expect to be operational that soon. However, the important factor here is that things are advancing and the new services both here and at Orbost should be operational before too long,” Mr Bull said.

Monday, 2 October 2023