Page 3155 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 12 September 1990
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Mr Speaker, I present the following paper:
Mental health crisis care service, Ministerial statement, 12 September 1990.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MR BERRY (3.28): I must say, Mr Speaker, that we have just heard one of the most outrageous ministerial statements that have been put to this Assembly. The Government's history on this issue is absolutely inconsistent. It is devious and it is filled with duplicity. Labor's commitment on this issue, of $150,000 in the remainder of the first year as a starting point for a service, was made to ensure that the provision of a service got under way as quickly as possible. Immediately after the election, Labor moved to do something about it. But this Minister said it was not good enough. Mr Speaker, I refer you to the Assembly adjournment debate on 20 February 1990, when Mr Humphries said:
The fact is that, notwithstanding what Mr Berry said today, $150,000 is not sufficient to start a proper 24-hour mental health crisis service.
He went on to say:
I, for one, would not go down the path of spending money on a service until I was sure that we were able to find the money to provide properly and adequately for the people of Canberra.
Clearly, the Minister did not want to move on the issue of providing services to the mentally ill. He did not know anything about it; all he was about was saving money. It was not until some time after, in the wake of some tragic suicides, that this Government began to move. I say that in respect of both the Minister for Health, Mr Humphries, and the Minister opposite, Mr Collaery, in relation to corrective services. Neither Minister moved until there were tragic deaths which resulted from their inaction.
What they have sought to do, in this whole debate, is take advantage of people with mental illness and their carers, because Mr Humphries knows, as I said on the record, that the full year effect of Labor's commitment was a $600,000 commitment for the provision of services to the mentally ill.
Mr Humphries: Garbage, rubbish!
MR BERRY: It is on the record and Mr Humphries should take the time to have a look at it. Mr Speaker, what this boils down to is a Government that sought no more than to roll over Rosemary Follett's budget initiatives into this year.
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