Fix mental health in the budget

June 4 2009, 2:55am

The State Budget will be handed down this afternoon.Treasurer Kevin Foley faces a difficult challenge to keep state debt under control while expanding services and maintaining the momentum of the Federal Government's economic stimulus packages.According to data released yesterday, Australia stands alone among developed nations in having avoided recession by returning positive growth for the first three months of the year of 0.4pc.The impressive result justifies the Commonwealth's cash handouts and nation-building initiatives.The outlook is positive for the next six months when school building programs and infrastructure developments commence the construction phase.At a state level however, Mr Foley will need to be a magician to achieve equally positive outcomes.One of Australia's biggest dangers at the moment is that state governments will drag the economy down. Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia are probably the most vulnerable.This does not necessarily reflect mismanagement, but rather the reality of declining revenue from the GST cake and stamp duty.As for what the State Government's spending priorities should be in the South East, health services are top of the list.The Mount Gambier Hospital should have a dedicated mental health ward staffed by skilled professionals.Efforts should be made to reduce waiting times at Mount Gambier Hospital for emergency care, with many people reporting waits of up to six hours for treatment of conditions deemed non-life threatening under the triage system, not to mention difficulty getting x-rays after hours.Ongoing road improvements in the South East should also be a feature of the budget this afternoon.