Support Accessible Medicare Mental Health Care for the Northern Gold Coast
The issue
The Northern Gold Coast has experienced rapid population growth, but access to timely mental health care has not always kept pace.
When this petition was launched in July 2025, people experiencing mental health distress across communities such as Coomera, Pimpama and Ormeau had very limited local options for urgent support. For many people, that meant waiting weeks for appointments, travelling outside the area, or presenting to an already stretched hospital emergency department. Emergency departments play an essential role in responding to acute mental health emergencies, but they should not be the only accessible option for people who need timely mental health support.
This petition called for a Medicare Mental Health Centre to be established on the Northern Gold Coast.
Since then, there has been significant progress.
The Northern Gold Coast Medicare Mental Health Centre has now opened in Pimpama.
This is an important development for our community and provides another pathway for people seeking free mental health support closer to home. But the opening of a centre does not automatically mean the service gap has been solved. The Northern Gold Coast continues to grow rapidly. Mental health demand continues to increase. We now need to ensure this service has the capacity, staffing, accessibility and connections with other services required to meet that demand.
The focus of this petition is therefore moving into its next stage.
We are calling for continued investment in accessible mental health care across the Northern Gold Coast, including adequate resourcing of the new Medicare Mental Health Centre, strong referral pathways between community services and hospitals, clear public awareness of how people can access support, and ongoing review of whether service availability reflects the needs of the community.
People experiencing mental health distress should be able to access appropriate care early, close to home and before their situation reaches the point of crisis.
The opening of the Northern Gold Coast Medicare Mental Health Centre is real progress.
Now we need to make sure the service delivers what our community actually needs.
796
The issue
The Northern Gold Coast has experienced rapid population growth, but access to timely mental health care has not always kept pace.
When this petition was launched in July 2025, people experiencing mental health distress across communities such as Coomera, Pimpama and Ormeau had very limited local options for urgent support. For many people, that meant waiting weeks for appointments, travelling outside the area, or presenting to an already stretched hospital emergency department. Emergency departments play an essential role in responding to acute mental health emergencies, but they should not be the only accessible option for people who need timely mental health support.
This petition called for a Medicare Mental Health Centre to be established on the Northern Gold Coast.
Since then, there has been significant progress.
The Northern Gold Coast Medicare Mental Health Centre has now opened in Pimpama.
This is an important development for our community and provides another pathway for people seeking free mental health support closer to home. But the opening of a centre does not automatically mean the service gap has been solved. The Northern Gold Coast continues to grow rapidly. Mental health demand continues to increase. We now need to ensure this service has the capacity, staffing, accessibility and connections with other services required to meet that demand.
The focus of this petition is therefore moving into its next stage.
We are calling for continued investment in accessible mental health care across the Northern Gold Coast, including adequate resourcing of the new Medicare Mental Health Centre, strong referral pathways between community services and hospitals, clear public awareness of how people can access support, and ongoing review of whether service availability reflects the needs of the community.
People experiencing mental health distress should be able to access appropriate care early, close to home and before their situation reaches the point of crisis.
The opening of the Northern Gold Coast Medicare Mental Health Centre is real progress.
Now we need to make sure the service delivers what our community actually needs.
Supporter voices
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Petition created on 27 July 2025