October 4th 2022
Eating Disorders Victoria (EDV) has released its 2022 Election Statement, calling on all major political parties and independents to recognise the growing burden of eating disorders on the Victorian population. Over 334,000+ Victorians are currently experiencing an eating disorder. The increase in eating disorder presentations over the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with historic underinvestment in public and community-based eating disorder services, has resulted in more Victorians seeking support services than ever before.
“We are seeing the impact day-to-day at EDV, with people so grateful to find interim support options through our free range of telehealth and psycho-social services. However, we are only supporting the tip of the iceberg. As a system, we really are at crisis point. I have had local and federal members of parliament contact me sharing messages from distressed constituents who don’t know where else to go. We need to see greater investment from our state government into the eating disorder system of care in Victoria, which is what we are asking for in our election commitment statement,” says Belinda Caldwell, CEO of EDV.
EDV is calling on all major parties and independents to provide the following commitments in the lead up to the November 26th State Election.
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Fully fund the outcomes of the Victorian Eating Disorder Strategy, currently being undertaken by the Department of Health in partnership with EDV and CEED.
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Fund EDV to meet community need through a long-term, stable funding model of $4 million per year, over 3 years.
“Both election asks are for prudent and strategic investment,” says Belinda. “The Strategy process is already underway, and we thank the current Government for their leadership here. Funding the roll out of the Strategy after months of consultation and lived experience input is the logical next step.
For EDV, we know that what we are doing works – our community tells us that every day. However, we are operating in an environment of 12-month funding cycles, which is resource intensive and takes the EDV team away from supporting our community. We need certainty through increased, multi-year funding in order to scale our services to meet demand, and to allow our team to focus on what we do best – supporting Victorians impacted by eating disorders. ”
EDV will be keeping an election scorecard to show community members which parties and candidates support these commitments over the campaign.
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For further information, please contact Breanna Guterres, Communications Manager on 0431 717 177 or [email protected]. Please refer to the Mindframe media guidelines when reporting on eating disorders.