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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3757 ..

Mr Berry: What?

MR HUMPHRIES: Yes, it was. When Mr Berry became Minister for Health, it was about three or four months away from opening. It was sited, it was established, it was built, all but for the last three or four months of it, at the time of - - -

Mr Berry: That is true. I concede. I give up. I yield.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have indicated before that Mr Berry has asked for some consideration in his comments, and I would ask for the same courtesy.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wood): Yes, that is fair enough.

MR HUMPHRIES: We established those services in this Territory. (Extension of time granted) Our achievements in mental health are being continued. We intend to re-establish the position of liaison psychiatrist in the Canberra Hospital. We allocated an additional $100,000 in this budget to establish a new mental health discharge liaison service at the Canberra Hospital. We are facilitating the construction of the Territory's first private psychiatric facility, at a cost of $2.5m.

Mr Berry: That will help the poor!

MR HUMPHRIES: It will help the poor, Mr Berry, because at the moment the rich, or at least those with insurance, not other means - - -

Mr Berry: No; they are going to Sydney and Melbourne.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I think it really is very unfair for him to behave like this. Let me say that Mr Berry does not understand that it will help the poor because the rich and those with means are presently occupying beds in our psychiatric unit. They are presently occupying our beds.

Mr Berry: No, they are not. They are going to Sydney and Melbourne.

MR HUMPHRIES: They are not going to Sydney or Melbourne, necessarily. They are also occupying beds in our public hospital and, if they can go to a private facility, which we are building at a cost of $2.5m, then I believe that we will be considerably assisting both rich and poor in the Territory. We are allocating an additional $45,000 for the secondment of a mental health nurse to the Belconnen Remand Centre. Clearly, a lot of people in the Remand Centre face serious mental health problems. An amount of $50,000 has been allocated to the Mental Health Foundation to support the Warren I'Anson respite house. The claim that this was not being funded is quite inaccurate. A total of $166,000 is being provided by Healthpact, under funding which we as a Government increased for expansion of mental health programs in 1996-97, compared with only $31,000 in 1995-96 - a 500 per cent increase.

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