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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3150 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Mr Speaker, yes, it is very difficult to get a professor of mental health; but Mr Berry was wrong again. If he knew anything, he would know that we do not actually appoint to the professorial positions. That is done by Sydney University, part of our clinical school. It is not done by the Government at all, Mr Speaker. The decision on who gets the job is not one that comes anywhere near my office, because it is done by the board of the University of Sydney. Again, if Mr Berry knew anything - - -

Mr Berry: And the Government has nothing to do with that? It is not even consulted?

MRS CARNELL: No, it is not even consulted. It is not even consulted about the people that are on the list. It is done by the board. You actually signed the agreements on the clinical school, so you should know how it is done. Mr Speaker, I understand that where they are up to with that particular position is that they have now gone to a head-hunter in the area to look around Australia and overseas for someone to fill the professorial position in this area. There are simply very few people in Australia who are qualified to be professors of psychiatry at a clinical school such as the ACT's. I am sure that nobody would want Sydney University to accept just anybody. I am sure that they are looking for somebody who is very good, Mr Speaker.

I come back to the work that Richard Clarke has done in areas such as the 24-hour crisis service. When we came to government, Mr Speaker, there were eight or nine fewer positions there. It was a crisis service operating without any computerisation - on a card system. So, there was no capacity for the system to actually access out-of-hours information about the patients. The people in our Mental Health Service should be congratulated for the moves they have made in this area and a number of other areas. They should be congratulated, Mr Speaker, not put down, as Mr Berry just did, as if they had done nothing. I think they have made an enormous change over the last 18 months or so. You can ask anybody who is operating in that area about the enormous step forward in such things as the improved range of residential options for people with mental health problems and the capacity to maintain people in their own homes rather than having to access critical care beds - all sorts of areas such as those. Mr Speaker, we are in no way saying that we have finished the implementation of Moving Ahead. We have not, but we are well on the way. I think Richard Clarke and his team should be congratulated.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition): Pursuant to standing order 47, I seek to be heard again.

Mrs Carnell: Only if it is a personal explanation.

MR SPEAKER: Is it a personal explanation?

MR BERRY: No. I might explain standing order 47 to you.

MR SPEAKER: Standing order 47 states, in part, that a member "may again be heard to explain where some material part of that Member's speech has been misquoted or misunderstood". That refers to your speaking, Mr Berry.

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