Dear Minister Roxon

I call on you to approve Commonwealth funding for PANDA to establish a dedicated national helpline for all Australian women who have a need for postnatal and antenatal depression counselling, support and referral.

In May 2007 COAG identified and declared the establishment of a dedicated postnatal and antenatal depression helpline to be a national priority. In September 2007 Department of Health and Ageing recommended that PANDA be allocated $5.7 million to extend its Victorian service to be the national helpline by January 2008. Final sign off has been delayed by the recent Federal election.

Specifically, I call on you and the Government to:

• Ensure the PANDA peer-to-peer helpline service model is funded and implemented in early 2008 for all Australian women and their families.

• Ensure the helpline service is promoted to all new mothers and other community service providers.

• Provide sufficient growth funding to expand the service to allow access for women from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Yours sincerely,

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