Ms Cleeland said the announcement made on May 2 came “far too late”, after January’s catastrophic Longwood bushfire ravaged the surrounding region.
“It has taken four months, repeated meetings with the minister, and raising this in parliament for Labor to even acknowledge that the initial mental health response didn’t cover the communities hit hardest by the bushfire,” the Nationals MP said.
The Lower Hume region is one of the largest populated regions in Victoria without a locally based Mental Health and Wellbeing Local.
“Instead of fixing that gap, Labor is sending in temporary clinicians from outside the region, while expecting people in crisis to travel significant distances for help,” she said.
“That’s not a long-term solution. It’s a temporary patch on a deep and ongoing issue.”
The government announced that existing Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals in Shepparton, Benalla and Wangaratta would extend their reach into bushfire-impacted areas including Towong, Mitchell and Murrindindi until June 30, next year.
Ms Cleeland said the model risked delivering services that existed on paper, but remained out of reach in practice.
“Expanding a service footprint is not the same as delivering real care in the communities that need it most,” she said.
“My concern is what happens when the fences are rebuilt and the adrenaline fades?
“That’s when the mental health impacts deepen, and we are already receiving calls from people who feel isolated and abandoned.”
Ms Cleeland said she put forward a clear solution immediately after the disaster to expand the Lower Hume Primary Mental Health Service, delivered by Yea and District Memorial Hospital and partner health services, across the fire-affected region.
“That service is already working on the ground, it’s trusted, and it reaches people where they are,” she said.
“Instead, the minister has made it clear the priority is continuing to invest in Mental Health Locals outside the region to prove the model works.
“Our communities should not have to wait for a trial elsewhere while they are in crisis.”
Ms Cleeland said recovery did not follow a government timeline, and short-term outreach models would not deliver the sustained support communities needed.
