Assistant Minister Kearney interview on JOY 94.9

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

Topics: Healthy men community conversations, housing

KENNY HILL: It is the MP for Cooper, Assistant Minister for Prevention of Family Violence and Assistant Minister for Social Services Ged Kearney. Good morning Ged, how are you?

GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER: Good morning Kenny, Fiona and Macca. I'm very well, thank you.

KENNY HILL: Thanks for joining us this morning, Ged. And look, men's mental health, masculinity, social connection, it's all back in the spotlight. And I understand that the Albanese government has just launched a new national conversation that's aimed at helping boys and men seek support earlier and build healthier relationships. That sounds really good because I think is it around 3/4 of suicide in Australia is amongst men. Why do you think Ged, that they're still struggling to seek help? And how will this help?

GED KEARNEY: Well, that's the big question, isn't it. So, there's still so many societal norms at play, Kenny, that argue that young men still need to fit into a stereotype of being strong and manly. Recent research done by Man Box found that nearly 3/4 of young people think that teenage boys shouldn't show emotions, they should be strong. You know, all of those stereotypes we know about how we see men and view men and manhood and masculinity. So, that was quite alarming really. And we think there's still a lot of work to be done to try to break down those barriers because of all of that expectation on men, they are less likely to seek help. Often they find themselves, if they don't perhaps fit those stereotypes, they find themselves isolated mental health issues, not being able to make connections. And when that happens in today's society they have that added pressure of perhaps going online and seeking communities that aren't healthy for them either. And all of that leads to a lot of other problems, including my portfolio, I think of violence against women.

FIONA BROOK: So, yeah, thanks Ged. And I think this is a, you know, this is a really positive initiative and it's trying, I suppose we, we're trying to put the ambulance at the top of the cliff, not the bottom.

GED KEARNEY: Exactly it, Fiona.

KENNY HILL: Particularly when it comes to family violence. But I was just - you mentioned, you just mentioned online and I was wondering if that is that something that you, that you've been see the Special Envoy Dan Rapacholi have been saying that the Andrew Tates of the world, the, that sort of, you know, hyper masculinity is, is, is, is this responding to some of that?

GED KEARNEY: Most definitely. And Dan, oh gosh, he's such a great ambassador for men's health. He's just fabulous and he's very plain speaking and he's really, it's just been so refreshing working with him this last little while on this issue. Yes, you know, that's huge part of it. We're trying to intercept those really harmful views that are being pressed through what we call the manosphere. And often the reasons that boys hook into the manosphere is because of those other things that they do feel isolated, they feel disconnected. And those influences, if you like, or manfluencers, give them what we know aren't healthy answers. But if you're a young vulnerable boy, they seem healthy because often they get to them through health messages. You know, go to the gym, make your bed, get up every morning, you know, which are all healthy, good messages. But then they tack onto that things like, you know, you've got to control women or all of these very negative, awful messages attacked on the end that are quite harmful. So, how do we intercept that? How do we break that? How do we make sure boys are connected, aren't feeling vulnerable and isolated?

KENNY HILL: Ged, you make a really good point there. And we often do when we're discussing these sorts of things, sort of pivot around younger men and the Andrew Tates and that sort of thing.

DAVID ‘MACCA’ MCCARTHY: And can I just say, so called role models like Pete Hegseth in the us I mean like, you know, seriously talk about, you know, a knuckle dragon.

KENNY HILL: But also at the other, the other end of scale, loneliness and lack of job prospects for older men as well, in their 50s who maybe have let their social circle drop and their 60s, said Macca and beyond. But I think, yeah, definitely, yeah, I think. Is there something in what's all right,

FIONA BROOK: Macca, we love you.

KENNY HILL: We do, we do. Is there something in this initiative, Ged, that is going to be practical, useful, helpful for older generations of men as well?

GED KEARNEY: Most definitely, Kenny, you know, absolutely. We, we visited just in the last week in Melbourne. Dan and I visited a number of places that are supporting older men. There's a, an organisation called the Tough Guy Book Club. It's absolutely gorgeous. They have a book, you know, they actually read a book and come together to talk about the book. But of course the themes of the books and all sorts of things open up a huge range of other conversations that the men are having. And we visited one. There are about 20 group, 20 men in the group, all different, hugely diverse, younger, older, mostly older, I would say, different backgrounds and it was a lovely thing to watch. And there's other things called the Men's Table, where men come together and share a meal and talk about things that they wouldn't talk about at the pub. You know what I mean? They actually delve a bit deeper. One man said to me he'd carried a terrible, terrible secret all his life and he was feeling almost suicidal. He went to one of these dinners and after three or four dinners he told the men at the table his terrible, terrible storey. And he said he felt like the whole world had opened up before him just because he felt safe enough to tell that storey. And, you know, it's, it's. You say to yourself, oh, we shouldn't need these things, these pieces of social infrastructure, but clearly we do, we do. I mean, we do.

FIONA BROOK: Loneliness is an epidemic, not just here in Australia but, but internationally. And you know, we, and it's, you know, it's a, it's a cause of death. You know, people who are lonely die earlier, you know, and so providing these connections and providing, yeah, I guess a sort of a, a healthy, healthy learning and healthy support for, for boys and young and men. And I'm, you know, I'm pleased to see that we've got an initiative like this happening in Victoria as well.

MACCA MCCARTHY: I was going to say, Ged, you know, all of these programs cost money. I, I've got a suggestion where you might be able to fund it even better. Well, you know, how about, you know, a lot of the state and federal governments, you know, the revenue they get from gambling, that causes a lot of health problems for men and for women and suicide, perhaps, you know, they should put their hand in that pocket.

GED KEARNEY: I hear what you're saying. I mean, there's no doubt that, well, gambling and alcohol are actually a huge part of what we are dealing with when it comes to isolation and disconnection because, you know, people turn to drugs and other support like that as well. So, I hear what you're saying about revenue, but just generally tackling gambling and alcohol I think is going to be a big part of this. Giving people alternatives, different supports is going to be important because men, you know, I'm a 62-year-old cis woman, so I'm so glad I've got Dan on board for this. But men just don't seek help. We do know that they are always much further down a disease process, for example, or an addiction before they go and get help. Whereas women tend to get help much earlier on and we have to really tackle that and make it normal to seek help. And we visited a footy club. We had about 100, you know, of the firsts come off the training field and sort of go down on one knee. And Dan gave, Dan Repacholi, gave him this fantastic pep talk about, you might feel really fit and healthy now, but it's so important to just go to the doctor every now and then and have a check in. We've got to normalise that behaviour. That's a huge part of the conversation we're having for older men and younger men as well.

KENNY HILL: Yeah, I would second that, Ged. We often have. There's a GP that comes on the show quite regularly and I think we see great responses from listeners to that. I think the GP is a practical, easy first step for any men who are struggling, anyone who's listening, who doesn't feel like they can put their hand up, have a quiet chat with your GP. You'll be amazed at how that can help. Ged, just in the time we've got, I do want to be a bit cheeky and bring you back to the point that Macca just made about gambling reform. It's something we talk about a lot on the show.

MACCA MCCARTHY: You should tax the advertising.

KENNY HILL: Yeah, yeah. Might we see some concrete, substantial action from the Albanese government in the time that you have left before the next election on really undertaking some of the recommendations from the Murphy report in a substantive way? What do you think?

GED KEARNEY: Yeah, well, look, you know, I do think the Prime Minister made some announcements recently, I don't know if you saw them, about gambling advertising. And one of those announcements that I think is quite profound is that if you watch sport on a platform like Kayo or 7plus, you can opt out of receiving gambling ads. So, you can actually turn them off.

KENNY HILL: But could we having them on network television as well? How about that?

FIONA BROOK: I'd prefer it if we had to opt in for them.

GED KEARNEY: Well, that's right. I was going to say, Fiona, there is. Perhaps that's the next step, is to make it an opt in sort of option. But I think that that's really powerful. I mean, I watch all my footy on the platform on Seven plus even, which is a free to air one. Of course, you don't have to pay for seven plus, but. And we've, you know, we can't wait for that because I'll opt out differently, but you can't advertise during the game. We have put in a huge range of advertising restrictions and I know for many people they don't go far enough, but I think they're a really, really great first step and I know there's a lot of community interest and concern about this, so we'll keep having that conversation, I promise you.

KENNY HILL: Does it come up with your electorate? Do people talk to you about it?

GED KEARNEY: Yes, it does. It does come up with the electorate. It comes up within the party, you know, party members. It comes up a lot and I do think that people are concerned about it. But we'll give these new. Which are quite extensive, the new. The new laws around advertising. We'll give them a little bit of time to work. I think there's a review in two years of those and we'll see how they're working and, yeah, we'll take it again from there. But, you know, I do appreciate that you keep raising it and that it stays.

KENNY HILL: We won’t stop.

MACCA MCCARTHY: It's in everyone's interest Ged, that the battle against cancer is done in the open and gambling advertising is a cancer and we need to lance it out.

FIONA BROOK: Well I think when we’re invest in healthy men’s communities and we know the impact on m and b health then trying to address the cause rather than dealing with the symptoms…

GED KEARNEY: Yeah I hear you.

KENNY HILL: Thanks for being a good sport on that question Ged, in the time we have left I asked you about what people are asking about in your community, what would be the number one thing that your constituents are concerned about and coming to you about?

GED KEARNEY: Housing, definitely, no doubt about it. Housing is the number one issue and I’m rally proud to say that we are really tacking that, you know, watch the budget. Housing it the most important issue right now. You can’t be healthy, you can’t have a job, you can’t be of sound mind if you haven’t got a home.

KENNY HILL: Is there something concrete in the budget that you’re hinting at there that we might see on Tuesday?

GED KEARNEY: Well the Treasurer has said that he wants to address the generational inequality around of housing. I think it is probably the worst kept secret that he is looking at a couple of things there.

MACCA MCCARTHY: When we get you back next time Ged we will have a talk about that as I am keen to have discussion about this intergenerational inequity that is spoken about. Of course I’m old so I have a different view, but I’ll be interested to talk about that. Thanks again for giving your time on a Saturday…

GED KEARNEY: It’s such a pleasure.

MACCA MCCARTHY: And your support of my community and of JOY, it is really appreciated, have a great day and thanks again.

GED KEARNEY: Thank you, no worries. Lovely to talk to you, bye.