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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3287 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

One point Mrs Littlewood made was that she thought the inquiry had been going for over 20 months. I would like to point out that the committee deferred commencing the inquiry until June 1996. One hearing was held in October 1996. Mrs Littlewood was part of the committee from February 1997, when all the major work was done. The committee spent 101/2 hours deliberating on the report over a period of about 10 days, so I am not willing to accept that Mrs Littlewood felt she had such a short time to write a dissenting report. The direction in which the report was going was clear for much longer than six hours.

Another issue Mrs Littlewood raised related to the recommendation regarding an investigation of the establishment of a secure facility. The Government apparently has said that it will do that. That is correct; it has. But it is still appropriate for the committee to make a recommendation to that effect. In fact, what we are doing there is supporting the Government's initiative. There is nothing I can see to dissent from about that. Through the body of the report, we have more evidence to support the Government's initiative on this, so it is actually affirming what the Government is doing.

In relation to recommendation 8, I point out that most of the $400,000 Mrs Littlewood refers to is provided by the Government for funding for non-clinical mental health support services. This allows services to maintain support to people currently accommodated in hostels who are moving into the community. These are people who have been receiving clinical support, and when they move out into the community they will continue to need it. The funds Mrs Littlewood refers to are not directed at the type of step-down half-way accommodation outlined in the recommendation.

In relation to recommendation 10, it must be noted that the proposal is for the development of a strategy on how best to support young people with a mental illness. This does not necessarily mean the development of new services; it may mean better coordination of existing services. The needs of young people with a mental illness is a major problem and the issue of most concern to the community. It is something that must be addressed urgently. The committee saw little evidence of improvements in responsiveness to the needs of young people from ACT Mental Health Services.

In relation to recommendation 17, the Territory mental health policy and strategic plan has not yet been developed. The committee was told that work would begin once the work on the legislation was completed. Once again, it is quite appropriate for the committee to affirm the Government's direction here. They are saying that they will develop a policy plan and we are saying, "Good on you, but do it as a matter of urgency". In relation to recommendation 19, I suspect that Mrs Littlewood has referred to an earlier draft of the report and that this now relates to recommendation 20. Under the purchaser-provider agreement, providers are already required to report to the department at least six-monthly. The information is received by the Government regularly and therefore we do not understand why such reporting is regarded by Mrs Littlewood as onerous. Mr Speaker, I could not agree more with Mrs Littlewood's concluding statement that there does seem a long way to go and that there is much to be done to improve mental health services in the ACT, and with her call for emphasis on reform and adequate resourcing of the area. Mental health delivery in the ACT has suffered a benign neglect for many years and, while the issues are complex, if all stakeholders are involved and there is a genuine commitment from government, we should be able to develop and implement responsive and comprehensive mental health support and treatment services.

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