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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3703 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

I suppose, professional differences between the people who work in the area. But she did make the comment that she believed strongly that the approach we were taking to move to a more community-based approach was the appropriate approach. Here we have a situation where we are spending more than we ever have in disabilities and more than we ever have in mental health; and we have independent reports that our services are very good and that there has been significant consultation in this area. Remember, Mr Speaker, that all of these reports were subject to community consultation; every single one of them was subject to talking to the community, talking to the stakeholders. It is important to raise these matters at this stage because the first part of Ms Tucker's motion, which suggests that we have failed to give sufficient priority to these areas, has been well and truly debunked by what I have said already.

Shall we now go to the second part, which talks about the failure to put into practice the principles of open, accountable and consultative government in this portfolio area. In the area of mental health and disability services we receive advice from the Mental Health Advisory Council, the Disability Services Advisory Council, the Home and Community Care Advisory Council and the Health Rights Advisory Council. These committees are made up of consumers, carers and providers. In a few weeks the Mental Health Advisory Council, together with ACTCOSS - working together, Mr Speaker - will co-host a mental health forum or think-tank to plan future directions in this area. They will be working with the document that I launched yesterday and with the new director of mental health, who has already indicated that he will be going down a path of consulting with the community and the stakeholders to set the future direction for mental health, taking into account the approaches that we have already put in place. All of that will be part of this think-tank approach. Again, Mr Speaker, this is not community consultation of course; this is something else! I am not too sure what it is, but certainly Ms Tucker does not believe it is.

The review of mental health legislation that I announced yesterday will involve a full community consultation process. By the way, Ms Tucker has been briefed on it so that she knows it perfectly well. All stakeholders, including the community and service providers, have also been briefed on it. The draft strategic plan for disability services, which I have already spoken about, has just been released for feedback from the community. A review of individual support packages - again, I have already spoken about that - conducted by an independent consultant has been provided to DSAC for them to consult more widely on the issue. We are exploring options to expand the role of the Health Complaints Commissioner to investigate complaints from a wider range of clients, including those in community care services, in both the government and non-government areas. We held a public consultation forum on the third national HIV/AIDS strategy - an area which is very important, obviously. We held consultations with the alcohol and other drugs interagency network concerning the review of the national drug strategy. In the prevention and management of youth suicide, a consultative group has been set up across all sectors.

Mr Speaker, the list goes on and on. In fact, what I would like to do, in the interests of those in the Assembly, is table a list which I have here of all the areas of consultation that this Government has been involved in or is involved in; what the project is; who the target group is; what the process is; what the timeframe is; and what the status is. As you can see, it is a significant document. Maybe it will help Ms Tucker just a little to understand

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