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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3310 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Successive Territory governments have recognised that mental health services have been underresourced. Since 1992-93, direct expenditure on the Mental Health Service alone has increased by more than 30 per cent. Last year an additional $1m was spent to maintain and improve services for people with mental illness. Today I can announce that, on top of record expenditure for mental health services of more than $14m this year, the Government has decided to commit an extra $250,000 to provide more support and services. We will shortly be calling tenders from non-government agencies to provide community-based accommodation support for up to 20 people with mental illnesses. A total of $150,000 in new funds will be made available for this support to help address what is one of the key problem areas in mental health.

A further $100,000 has been provided to employ two extra mental health nurses, who will be working out of both the Emergency Department and the psychiatric ward at the Canberra Hospital. This will enable the formation of an intensive case management team to develop closer liaison between the psychiatric unit and our Emergency Department. This team will be able to provide better treatment and support for clients who present at our Emergency Department and follow-up in the period immediately following discharge to help the transition of clients back into the community. As well, we have listened to the concerns of staff at the Belconnen Remand Centre and have made available additional funding of $45,000 to employ a level 2 nurse to assist with the care of detainees with mental health problems.

Our commitment to health promotion and improving quality of life for all Canberrans is again evident in this budget. Healthpact, the new stand-alone Health Promotion Authority, has funding of more than $3.1m available to it this year. This represents more than three times the level of funding that was provided in the final year of the previous Government and will enable many more sporting, artistic and community activities to be supported right across Canberra.

Funding for education has again been maintained in real terms in this budget, in line with our election promise. But we have not stopped there. This year we have taken a major step towards improving the basic skills of students across our primary and secondary sectors - a promise we also made prior to the last election. The Government has decided to establish a fund totalling $1.2m that will be specifically targeted at expanding literacy and numeracy programs in schools. These additional resources will provide hundreds of Canberra students with greater opportunities to receive specialist assistance right now, when they most need it. It means that funding for our schools this year will, in fact, exceed the forward estimates.

In line with the Government's response to the Assembly's inquiry into voluntary contributions, a schools equity fund has been established to provide assistance to disadvantaged schools. The fund has been allocated $110,000 in its first year - double what the Assembly was originally advised. I can also announce today that a total of $450,000 will be injected to replace the antiquated student record keeping system, which holds all student records and provides data for Year 10 and Year 12 certificates. As part of catering for the growth of new areas in Canberra, a high school in Gungahlin will be built in time for the 1998 school year, while a new primary school will open its doors at Ngunnawal next year, together with a preschool and child-care centre.

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