Media release – Men’s Resources Tasmania, 23 August 2021
Tasmanians say we need more support for men
Research shows that Tasmanians support funding being made available to support men and boys in mental health and other services relevant to men.
The Australian Men’s Health Forum conducted research in May 2021 into Australians attitudes to funding men’s health initiatives. In collaboration with Men’s Resources Tasmania (MRT) a Tasmanian report ‘Funding Men’s Health in Tasmania: Time to level up‘ now includes the local data and other relevent information from other Tasmanian reports.
The report shows that Tasmanians believe governments should provide funding to men and women based on their different needs, and that there is more we can do to support men at risk of suicide.
“This support from our community is not matched by support from governments,” says Brendan Sullivan, president of Men’s Resources Tasmania.
“Nationally the last budget provided $538 million for the National Women’s Health Strategy, and nothing to the male health strategy. The story is similar in Tasmania,” says Mr Sullivan.
The last Tasmanian budget saw hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to developments for prisons, and almost nothing into preventive approaches that will lead to improved health outcomes for men.
At 7pm on Monday night MRT will hold a vigil on Parliament House lawns to acknowledge the terrible impact of suicide on our community, and to call on the government to fund MRT to work on new approaches and services to proactively support men.
“For more than six years, MRT has been contributing male perspectives to policy issues, and developing resources and programs for men and boys. We’ve been doing this as volunteers, but we can’t keep doing it off the side of our desks,” says Jonathan Bedloe, Vice-President of MRT.
