7064 (2026). Ingrid Leary to the Minister for Mental Health

7064 (2026). Ingrid Leary to the Minister for Mental Health: Is the $61.6 million investment, announced in late 2025 for crisis recovery cafés and peer support in emergency departments, additional to funding allocated in Budget 2025; if so, from which appropriation or contingency has this funding been drawn?

Hon Matt Doocey: The $61.6 million investment to deliver a better crisis response that I announced on 5 November 2025 is funded from the Vote Health uplift for the 2025/26 financial year applied to the mental health and addiction ringfence (captured in the Mental Health Output Class). This funding is the result of the Budget 2024 initiative and part of a three-year uplift for Health New Zealand. The funding for the $61.6 million investment sits across the Delivering Hospital and Specialist Services and Delivering Primary, Community, Public and Population Health Services appropriations. Boosting crisis responses was identified as a new priority for the 2025/26 financial year within the previous Budget 2024 uplift initiative, aligned with the intent of the initiative to grow frontline health services.