Legislative Council, Tuesday 15 November 2022

Ms FORREST (Murchison) - I thank the member for Prosser for bringing this motion to the Chamber. The benefit that men's sheds bring to the mental health and wellbeing of many men across Tasmania and Australia is well understood.

While many people think that men's sheds are places where older men meet to make things and use tools and equipment they might not have at home, that is only part of what men's sheds do and it is not only older men who access them, particularly those that are available on weekends where other men can go. They offer much broader support, services and opportunities.

I will speak fairly broadly about the benefits of men's sheds rather than focus on particular ones as such. I also acknowledge, as other members have, the great work of the Tasmanian Men's Sheds Association who help facilitate a lot of the engagement with the men's sheds around the state and provide avenues to support the purchase of tools and other equipment that the sheds may need. They are also great for helping the volunteers who run our sheds to connect around the state and around the communities they represent and work in.

I have personally referred people to the Tasmanian Men's Sheds Association who are looking to try and establish a men's shed because they have got a lot of information and support there available. Not all men's sheds are actually members of the TMSA either. I went to this website to have a look and there are lots of them in my area that are not actually on their list of members. Other members have spoken about the informal men's sheds or they have not felt the need to be a member of the association as such and they are getting on and doing their own thing.

In any event, regardless of whether they are members of the association or not, men's sheds generally provide a wonderful gathering place for men to chat and have access to equipment that they might not have at home and to meet people that they may not have met through any other avenue. This is particularly the case when men age and they seek to downsize their family home. It often means moving to a smaller home where they might have had a shed and they no longer have a shed and the best they have maybe is a small garden shed. That is a fairly big transition for a lot of men who spent a lot of time in their shed.

I know how important my Dad's many sheds were to him and a key must-have for my brother when he was looking to buy a new home. He did find a home with an enormous shed and it is completely full with his machinery and other equipment that some may say are the toys that he has, but that was a prerequisite. It had to have a big shed. When you look around for properties to buy, not on a farm which was what he was doing, there are limited properties with big sheds. Men's sheds can provide an enormous source of relief and benefit to these men who no longer have their own very big shed or big sheds.

For men like my brother, sheds are crucial, not least for their mental health and wellbeing. Many men have told me how many problems, not necessarily related to the machinery in the shed have been solved just by going to the shed. It is an opportunity where it is safe. You add to this the camaraderie the men's shed creates and you not have to wonder why these facilities are vital for the mental and physical health and wellbeing of men.

Men's sheds truly are the heart and the hub of many communities right throughout Tasmania and through their work they give back to the community which they represent. As other members have mentioned, each shed is unique; it meets the needs of its particular community; and some of them, as has been alluded to, have particular focuses around things that are particularly important to that community. It is right they are community-centred and community-focused because what is the point of them otherwise? They need to meet the needs of their local community. Obviously, they will ebb and flow and change as perhaps their membership changes too.

Many of these sheds make equipment, as the Leader spoke about with the Penguin Men's Shed making the happy hour trolley. I know a lot of them, including the Burnie Men's Shed which is in the member for Montgomery's electorate, but a lot of people from my electorate go across the road. Yes, I know exactly where it is just over the boundary. They make picnic tables and the sorts of facilities that are used right throughout the community. They will also do custom pieces if someone has a particular need. That helps to maintain the skills the men may have developed prior to losing their own shed, potentially, and be able to continue to use those. They do give back and also share their skills, as other members have mentioned, with women and children in the community, and some of them have women's days where they invite the women who are in their life or other women to come and have a turn in the shed and experience the joys of the shed, or to sit beside the fire and have a chat.

I mentioned the impact on some men downsizing their home as they age. Many men also struggle, as some women do too, with the transition from a working life to retirement, even if they still have their own shed, because it is the lack of regular contact with other people and they can become isolated without something like a men's shed. They can miss the camaraderie of their former workplace and workmates and may feel a lack of purpose. Whilst I know it is not just men who experience this, we know that women are much more able to join and create groups and that sort of thing. Men often find that more difficult so, the men's shed is a really safe place to do that. You just turn up and there is no expectation you will build or make something, you are welcome to just sit and chat.

This is particularly an issue for men as they are retiring or ageing that they might also lose their life partner around that time and certainly then be at an increased risk of loneliness. When we look at loneliness and the impact on people's mental health, it is profound and significant. Loneliness is an increasing problem generally for society and men's sheds play a crucial role in helping to overcome this, making new friends and mates and being active within the community.

We know many men find it harder to reach out for help when feeling low or depressed. We know there is a worrying number of older men with mental health problems who often do not seek help until it is really late and, sadly, we have a higher rate of male-completed suicide. Men's sheds can play a role in the early intervention and recognition of men who may be struggling with loneliness, depression and with poor mental health. Some of those issues may have been unrecognised or untreated for years and just sitting beside the fire or sitting in the shed, even just working, as the member for Rumney said, shoulder to shoulder rather than face to face is much easier to have a conversation. Anyone who has kids will know that. Driving in the car is the best place to have one of those conversations, because you cannot look at them, other than a quick glance at, 'Did you just say that?' The shoulder-to-shoulder chat is much less threatening for people who do not like the face-to-face and make eye contact as readily. It can be very empowering and a really important aspect of our communities and the men's sheds play a really important role in that shoulder-to-shoulder chat.

Men's sheds provide a safe and respectful place to have a chat, a game of cards or whatever other activity there is in the confines of the shed, where additional support services can be recommended or identified, if needed, and a listening ear is there whenever needed . It is an easy place to hand them a brochure or to say 'Look, I had the same sort of problem and I went here,' or whatever, and it is those sorts of things that will save men's lives. I do not think we can underestimate the importance of that.

As noted in the motions, men's sheds rely on and are fully supported by volunteers. This volunteer work is highly valued and does reduce the overall burden on our health services, such is the positive impact that those who engage with the men's shed as either a participant or a volunteer can have. I thank them all and acknowledge the enormous contribution of all our volunteers, we could not do what we do without them. As other members have said, and I will reiterate: all sheds are different.

To speak about one I have visited quite regularly, the King Island's Mens Shed is one of the best equipped I have ever seen. I went there on my electorate tour and met a lot of the men who are regular attenders. It is a really great men's shed because it is a new shed, really well equipped. People have provided tools and equipment to the shed when they have had to downsize themselves.

Mr PRESIDENT - I think they were building a cannon dolly.

Ms FORREST - That is right, they were at the time. It has been physically connected to the community house, Phoenix House, which we spoke about recently on the community houses and the community garden means that all these groups work together for the benefit of the island. There is a lot of work going on in the community garden, which we also visited, but you probably would not recognise it now with the work that has been done since we were there. The men's shed has been really integral in building garden beds and shelters and that sort of thing in the community gardens. That one in particular, with colocation had real added benefits for the island and it makes it safe for men to go to the men's shed, but also perhaps pop into Phoenix House if they might need support for other things, it is right there.

When I visit, I always seek approval. I do not just drop in, it is their shed and their right to not have someone walk in on them, but I am always warmly welcomed. Jim Ben particularly, I think we all met him over there as the main contact, he is always on for a chat, you have to make sure you have plenty of time when you are invited to a men's shed.

As I said, I will not name all the men's sheds in my electorate as I know there are likely to be some I will miss, there are so many and sometimes they pop up when you do not necessarily know they are there straightaway, so to avoid missing any, I will just talk broadly about them across the electorate. There are a lot that I know of that are not on the Tasmanian Mens Sheds Association website, and that is not even picking up any that I may not even be aware of at this stage.

Suffice to say, they come in all areas and corners of my electorate, from King Island to several towns on the west coast through Circular Head, Wynyard, Somerset, Warratah and Burnie. There are a range of men's sheds, some of them are more formal and registered with the Tasmanian Men's Sheds Association, others do their own thing but still provide a community focus and community-centred approach to supporting men in their capacity to meet up, have a chat, make some things, use some tools they may or may not have, and actually look after their general mental health and wellbeing, even though they may not know that is what is happening at the time.

Men's sheds play a very important role in our community and I thank them all for what they do to support each other, for the work they do and what they do for the community.