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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3285 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

The committee noted the lack of strategic vision and the lack of performance indicators to enable evaluation of the services. A review of ACT forensic services undertaken earlier this year noted disturbing problems in the provision of services to those in custody and noted that both of the ACT's recent suicides in custody had a strong psychiatric development. It recommended a modest increase in resources immediately to improve basic forensic services.

There are three recommendations in this report related to forensic facilities. They deal with Quamby and the Belconnen Remand Centre, and we also have a recommendation that any assessment of the need for an ACT gaol should include a best practice forensic psychiatric facility, which would be administered by the health portfolio. The committee has also recommended that there be a secure facility for people with a mental illness who are not involved with the criminal justice system but who require involuntary accommodation. The committee was most concerned about the reported practice of placing people, often young people under 25, considered to be a danger to themselves or others, in the Remand Centre because there is no alternative. According to the Legal Aid Office, the police have to resort to charging such people with an offence to get them some help. This practice overlooks the critical fact that the criminal justice system is a punishment regime, not a health facility. Concerns about this practice were expressed by Legal Aid three years ago, when they warned that there could be tragic consequences, and since that time three people have died. The committee considered that urgent action must be taken to provide a more suitable facility.

I note with concern that a Bill has been tabled today that seeks to give the Director of Family Services the power under the Children's Services Act to transfer offenders from one institution to another, including into interstate institutions. This is indeed an admission that we have a shortage of appropriate juvenile justice services in the ACT. The committee also took evidence about the inadequacy of so-called step-down or halfway accommodation in the ACT. This is a really critical aspect of the way we are delivering mental health services now, when you do not have the institutional care. You have other community-based support or hospital care; you have to have something in between so that you can help people make that transition. So we have a recommendation on that matter.

We also took submissions from members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community about the special circumstances surrounding the provision of mental health services to address their needs. Indeed, it must be recognised that the needs of different groups in the community, including older people, young people, people of non-English-speaking background, or Aboriginal communities, are diverse, and services must be responsible enough to deal with these different needs. We recommend that there needs to be a stronger partnership agreement that gives greater community control in the delivery of services. We also recommend that there be increased resourcing to this area. The lack of appropriate accommodation has been highlighted over and over. This must be given a much higher priority. An insufficient range of suitable affordable housing options and support services was reported by many individuals and organisations.

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