Legal Aid funding blow

THEY cut it here, they cut it there, the powers-that-be cut it everywhere! Now it’s the Legal Aid service, meaning that those unfortunate enough to run foul of the law have to represent themselves. Not being WILD Island is to be congratulated for hosting the wonderful talk on Gondwanaland by Associate Professor Greg Jordan and Rob Blakers, whose images are truly inspiring. This raises the question, what is being done to ensure that prompt and effective services will be at the ready to prevent another disastrous bushfire ripping

Tend to spiritual aspect

AT the National Press Club Address on Wednesday, executives from Beyond Blue, ConNetica and ANU’s Mental Health Research Centre acknowledged Australia’s mental health crisis and the fact they do not have the answers. After the billions of dollars that have been poured into the mental health sector since the inception of the first mental health organisation in 1930 (the Mental Health Foundation of Victoria), every effort must now be made to find the solutions, and this must allow for the spiritual aspect of life to be explored more honestly.

Until the spiritual aspect of the mental health equation is understood and embraced, money will continue to be thrown into the bottomless pit of ever-growing numbers of mental health organisations and providers while the mental health and wellbeing of Australians deteriorates, particularly among our young ones. There is an urgent need for the answers to be acknowledged. They are there, just waiting to be embraced and acted upon.