Silence On Mental Health Initiatives In Budget 2025 Is Concerning

With total capital expenditure in infrastructure reaching $6.8 billion, Budget 2025 seems to have missed a crucial opportunity to better support those frontline construction workers tasked with bringing the government’s ambitious projects online.

“The government places a strong emphasis on welcoming overseas investors to fund its infrastructure pipeline, but we urge them to remain steadfast on the wellbeing of our workers who will put these projects into motion,” says MATES in Construction (MATES) Chief Executive John Chapman.

Statistics suggest that we lose one construction worker to suicide every five days — which in 2023 accounted for almost 14% of suicides in Aotearoa New Zealand. The latest statistics also suggest that construction industry workers are nine times more likely to die from suicide than from a critical incident on site.

“Suicide in the construction industry can be easily overlooked by decision-makers, however the crisis cannot be ignored by those who have lost whānau, friends, and colleagues.”

Although there is little in the way of additional direct support, MATES welcomes the announcement of funding to transition the approach for mental distress calls to 111 from a Police-led response to a multi-agency one.

“Increasing the capacity and availability of mental health telehealth services is an important step towards ensuring everyone can access support. Our 24/7 MATES helpline is an example of this approach working in practice, and we are ready for the government’s call to support their efforts."

MATES has been working with boots on the ground since 2019, including facilitating on-site mental health training programmes designed to equip workers to help each other, providing case management support to workers struggling to navigate the mental health support system, and operating the 24/7 MATES helpline.

“The more we can do to prevent suicide, the more we reduce the impact on families, friends, and colleagues. As our name says, these are our mates, our friends, who are suffering and we need to do everything possible to make sure we don’t lose even one more to suicide.”

Where to get help:

MATES in Construction – 0800 111 315 (available 24/7)

Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)

Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7) Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234

What's Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm) 0800 Anxiety Helpline: 0800 269 4389 (0800 ANXIETY). This service is confidential and free of charge. Open 24/7.

Depression Helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7) National Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737

Aoake te Rā (Bereaved by Suicide Service): Call 0800 000 053

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Notes:

MATES in Construction (MATES) was launched in 2019 in response to the high rate of suicide among construction workers. It operates nationally across all district health board regions, aiming to ignite hope, promote well-being, and reduce ill-being among construction workers.

The MATES programme covers promotion and prevention via suicide awareness and suicide first-aid training, crisis intervention via a 24/7 support line, and postvention support for workers and their families following a suspected suicide or other critical incident.

Central to MATES' mission is its commitment to research, which not only validates the effectiveness of its programmes but also informs ongoing improvements and industry-wide initiatives. It is a non-profit organisation that receives the majority of its funding from industry with a smaller percentage coming from public sector contracts and Construction and Health Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ).

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