Labour’s U-turn on joint responses to distress callouts is a cynical and last-ditch attempt to convince the public that they haven’t completely and utterly failed to improve mental health outcomes in New Zealand, National’s Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell and Mental Health spokesperson Matt Doocey say.

“It’s staggering that Labour is boasting about asking officials to spend six months investigating a programme that National already committed to funding in 2017,” Mr Mitchell says.

“The previous National Government committed $8 million to a co-response programme, but Labour axed this shortly after they took office.

“Since scrapping the plan for no apparent reason, Police have been completely swamped by a 60 per cent increase in mental health-related callouts, tying up valuable resources that could be used to fight the tsunami of crime Labour has presided over.”

“Labour needs to front up and explain why they canned National’s co-response plan in the first place,” Mr Doocey says.

“Labour’s own mental health and addiction inquiry called for a mental health co-response service back in 2018. Despite this, Labour frittered away the $1.9 billion announced for mental health and are now resorting to announcing the drafting of a plan.

“Serious questions need to be answered. Where has this money gone, why hasn’t it made any difference, and why has there been no investment in increasing the frontline?

“Labour talks a big game in mental health but in the last six years has failed to make a real difference.

“National will have a dedicated Mental Health Minister. We will also help New Zealanders get timely access to care by setting up a Mental Health Innovation Fund to help boost community providers and NGOs, like Mike King’s Gumboot Friday, which make a real difference to Kiwis in need.”