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The government has committed $24 million

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to the I Am Hope initiative

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Gumboot Friday, which provides counselling to

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young people. Comedian Mike King's I

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Am Hope Foundation, which runs Gumboot

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Friday, says it will provide access

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to free mental health counselling for

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more than 15,000 young people a

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year. But

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not everyone is welcoming the move,

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with opposition parties calling for more

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transparency around the procurement of mental

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health services. The Minister for

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Mental Health, Matt Ducey, explains why

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they chose to fund Gumboot Friday. Gumboot

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Friday are proven. They've got a social

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return on investment. For every $1 invested,

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they return $5.70. But more importantly,

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they can connect young people who

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need timely mental health and addiction

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support with a practitioner within two

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weeks. So we want to get

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more money out of Wellington to

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the front line. And today we

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announce Gumboot Friday receiving that $24

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million. How

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was the I Am Hope organization

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that runs Gumboot Friday chosen over

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other mental health service providers? Well,

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in our coalition agreement across the three

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parties, we agreed to fund Gumboot Friday.

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The Ministry of Health has taken

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a direct contracting approach to

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fund that $24 million. So it

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was really exciting to stand there

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today with the Deputy Prime Minister, Winston

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Peters, and Mike

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King from I Am Hope, as well

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as Naomi Ballantyne, the Chair of the

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board. We believe

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that Gumboot Friday is a

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proven provider that has the

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ability to scale up. We

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talk today that they have several

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hundred mental health and addiction practitioners

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on their platform that we can fund so

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they can provide timely access to support for

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young people who need it. So

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was this decision a coalition agreement decision, or

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was it a decision because it's the right

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thing to do? Well

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this decision was made because it's

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the right thing to do. Today's

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announcement is to fund Gumboot Friday.

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will allow an extra over 15,000

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young people to access timely mental

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health and addiction support. The Auditor-General

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recently reported that in the last

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six years, specialist wait times have

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increased for young people. So not

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only will this announcement today support

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an extra 15,000 young people to

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get timely support, we'll also support

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those young people on wait lists

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and we're really excited about today's

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announcement. Which mental health service

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providers won't have their funding renewed in the

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budget? Well

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we've still got Budget 2024 to

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be announced. Today's announcement was

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around $24 million for

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Gumboot Friday and I'm really looking

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forward to Budget 2024 and the

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investment that

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we will make into mental health services. So

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you're not going to say which mental health

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service providers won't have their funding renewed when

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you announce the budget next Well

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there's still time to go before Budget

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2024. Today we're announcing $24

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million into

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Gumboot Friday. What performance measures

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have you got in place for Gumboot Friday? So

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the performance measures will be

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around a volume and the

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performance of Gumboot Friday. There

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will be measures in place

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to report on activity as

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well as outcomes. I've

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sought assurances from the Ministry of

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Health by following the government procurement

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rules. They are taking a

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direct contracting approach. They've assured me

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that this is not unusual and

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that I'm expecting robust contracting to be

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reporting on the monitoring

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of volume and performance of this contract.

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How often will you be assessing the

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Gumboot Friday initiative? How will you know it's

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working? Well

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the Ministry of Health manages with

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Health New Zealand a

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large number of contracts with

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our NGO and community providers.

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They are expected to return

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reports on performance and volume

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at periodic parts of

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the calendar year as per their contract

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and that's what we would expect this

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to do with Gunboot Friday. So

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what outcomes are you expecting from the

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24 million dollars announced today

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being invested in Gunboot Friday?

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Well from today's announcement of 24 million

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dollars over four years for Gunboot

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Friday we're expecting an extra 15,000

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young people every year to access

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timely mental health and addiction support.

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That's important. Many young people tell

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me as I travel around the

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country that they find it hard

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to get that support so it's

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really exciting that we'll be able

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to increase the level of support that

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they will be able to access but

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of course it's also about the outcomes

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of the support that they receive and

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what we want to see is

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young people using Gunboot Friday receiving

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better support to help them around

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staying within school, better

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educational success, staying

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out of youth offending and these are

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real outcomes that we want to measure.

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By when? Where are these outcomes

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expected? Well that's

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through the contracting. There will be expected

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outcomes on reporting of performance and

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monitoring and like any contract I

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would expect the Ministry of Health

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and Health New Zealand to undertake

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that we have clear expectations of

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what we are purchasing as a

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government. It's very important that not only

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are we funding services to allow people

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to get better access but of course

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to actually have better outcomes for those

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people as well. That's the

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Minister for Mental Health, Matt Doocy there.