Page 4016 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 22 October 1991
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New admission criteria have been set, and a new arrangement for monitoring client behaviour has also been organised. The new conditions should improve the rehabilitation value of the club and provide a safer environment for users of the building. That is what the review was about, and that is why it was necessary.
Another growth area in rehabilitation is vocational training and employment for clients with a psychiatric disability. I understand that since May psychiatric rehabilitation services and the Canberra Schizophrenia Fellowship have worked together to develop a retail garden centre. The fellowship provided $10,000 to stock the centre and also was successful in gaining an ACT Government vocational training grant for the employment of the centre manager. It commenced operations, Mr Speaker, on 17 August. So, that is more good news under a Labor government.
The Mental Health Act review report, "Balancing Rights", completed in 1990, made 59 recommendations, and these are presently being considered by the Board of Health. The Government will further consider the recommendations in the near future. It is pleasing to be able to acknowledge the range of mental health services available to the ACT community, and Mental Health Week is an appropriate time to be doing this.
It is important to note that at a national level mental health issues are also being considered. In recent years, mental health care has been moving away from institutional settings to maintaining people with a mental illness in the community. Currently, the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments are working together to reassess their roles and responsibilities for the provision and funding of mental health services. A national mental health care policy, including standards of care, consumer rights and resource priorities, is being considered.
It is on that basis that I would like to acknowledge Mental Health Week. It is a week which allows people with a mental illness, their families and carers, community groups, mental health workers and governments to focus on mental health issues. It is a week for the entire community to consider a "gentler society". I present the following paper:
Mental Health Week, Ministerial statement, 22 October 1991.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
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