What will a Minister for Men’s Health actually do?

What happened: On Tuesday, NSW Opposition leader Kellie Sloane announced the NSW Coalition would establish a dedicated Men’s Health portfolio. The portfolio has been handed to North Shore MP Matt Cross, the member for Davidson.

What will it do: Few details have been given by the opposition regarding the portfolio’s policy goals, but it has been made clear that mental health will be a key focus. 

• “Too often men delay seeking help, whether it is for their physical health or their mental health”, Cross said in a press release.

What do the experts say: Experts the Lorikeet spoke to said the move both showed promise and raised concerns.

Brett Scholz — an Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychology at The Australian National University — expressed unease with the language used by the opposition leader in announcing the role.

• In an interview with the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, Kellie Sloane criticised the term “toxic masculinity,” claiming that “there’s a lot of name-calling and blaming of men”. Scholz told the Lorikeet this language struck him as “quite populist”. 

“There's some real important things that we do need to improve — for example, men's mental health — but we need to make sure that we're doing that in ways that aren't heightening the divisiveness,” said Scholz.

A careful conversation: Scholz said the way we broach these subjects requires significant care. In his experience, he found talking about issues like men’s mental health has the potential to attract groups unconducive to positive outcomes, such as men's rights activists.

On the other hand, Murray Drummond — a professor specialising in men’s health — agreed with Sloane’s criticism of toxic masculinity as a term, calling it a “deficit model”. 


• “We need to give boys and young males opportunities to see different forms of masculinities in practice that are positive to society. Good dads, good role models, good people,” said Drummond.

What needs to be done: According to Drummond, the government should be looking at already existing independent organisations — such as Mancave and Movember — and working out how to develop “economies of scale, so that we can actually implement it across the state, and then hopefully across the nation”.

• “It always comes down to funding … but it's how that funding is then dispersed, and who it goes to, and what are the programs that are going to be in place,” said Drummong.

For Scholz, the biggest issue was funding, but he saw this as something impacting all areas of mental health, not just men's. “Our mental health system is underfunded”, he said.

A promising candidate: Scholz spoke positively about the appointment of Cross as a good choice for the role. In his time in office, Cross has often spoken publicly about his battle with bowel cancer.

“I think it's a strength that someone with lived experience of these kinds of issues is the person that they've put forward for this portfolio”, Scholz said.