Download the printable version of our Men’s Health Week edition of The Shedder eNews
Dear Shedders,
Befitting of it being Men’s Health Week, this month marks 15 years since the Australian Men’s Shed Association first secured funding from the Federal Government, and Men’s Sheds were recognised as part of the 2010 National Male Health Policy. Back then there were a little under 300 Men’s Sheds in existence and the roll of Men’s Sheds in the male health sector was still not fully understood.
Since then, AMSA has grown significantly and through our work the Men’s Shed brand is stronger than ever. Over a thousand more Men’s Sheds have opened around the country and the brand now also has a strong international presence.
This brand recognition and awareness has led to a much wider public understanding of Men’s Sheds and especially our role within men’s health through the prevention of social isolation as our priority. Unfortunately, since then very little had changed in the way of ongoing government support for Men’s Sheds and men’s health with next to no increase in our funding since 2010 – with the exception of increased funds for the National Shed Development Program.
We have been working tirelessly alongside our key partners Healthy Male and Movember to change this through our advocacy, and in April a pre-election commitment was announced by the Labor Party for an investment of $32M to improve the health of Australian men and boys, this was also matched by the Coalition, so regardless of the election results it was going to be a win-win situation.
As part of this announcement was “$8.3 million to support another two years of Men’s Shed Initiative’s National Shed Development Program, providing grants of up to $10,000 to individual Men’s Sheds. It will also support the Australian Men’s Sheds Association to deliver new health promotion and prevention programs”.
This is a significant step forward for AMSA, Men’s Sheds and the broader men’s health sector. The Government is now committed to funding four key men’s health organisations (Movember, AMSA, Healthy Male and Black Dog Institute) to develop our capacity to deliver a broader and more practical range of programs to improve men’s health.
As part of this commitment, the Prime Minister has appointed the Hon Dan Repacholi MP as Special Envoy for Men’s Health. Dan has already made contact with us and is excited to be taking on this position – he has been passionately campaigning for increased investment in men’s health outcomes during his first term representing the Hunter electorate. Dan’s appointment will also make it much easier for AMSA, as well as our partners, in moving forward in our efforts improving men’s health.
It has taken us 15 long years of hard work, but I cannot overstate the significance of this achievement. The AMSA team are extremely committed to Men’s Sheds and have tolerated difficulties beyond imagination and I thank them for doing so. Most of all, we could not have done this without the support of the Men’s Shed community. Many of you have told your local MPs how important the Men’s Shed has been for you in your life, these messages have been listened to and together we have pioneered the way forward, thank you. We’re excited for what the future holds.
David