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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4440 ..

Ms McRae: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: The Chief Minister had better be very careful. This page says nothing about extracts.

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Ms McRae: There is a possible misleading. There is nothing about extracts from annual reports. It says "Advertising Supplement".

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Resume your seat.

MRS CARNELL: There is no doubt that ACT Health have paid for this insert; there is no doubt at all about that. But advertising is usually about selling a product.

Ms Reilly: That is what it is doing.

MRS CARNELL: No. I have to tell you that we are not selling any of the hospital; I promise.

Ms McRae: It is not the annual report.

MRS CARNELL: As I understand it, these are excerpts from the annual report.

Ms McRae: It does not say that.

MR SPEAKER: Order! I warn my Deputy Speaker, Ms McRae.

MRS CARNELL: This is information that is going out to the Canberra community. As I said earlier, mental health, as I thought Ms Reilly would have been aware, has been subject to a quite significant change over the last little while. Earlier this year we put out a strategic direction for mental health which ran through the approach that we would take. The first cab off the rank, of course, was the 24-hour mental health crisis service. The 24-hour mental health crisis service has been significantly upgraded. There are a significant number of new people who are working in that area. I think the number of people has been increased by - it may even be - up to eight. The number of contacts that the 24-hour crisis service is undertaking now has increased significantly.

Other areas of change and restructuring have been with regard to residential accommodation. As members would know, we have put out for tender some residential support accommodation for people with mental health problems in the ACT, to give them more options in terms of where they may live. We also have the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act 1994 out for community consultation. An extensive public consultation has been undertaken by the Department of Health and Community Care. Those opposite have been asked for input on that. I understand that we will be in a position, hopefully if we are re-elected, to introduce the legislation which will reflect that approach. I understand that the mental health area is finalising the details of a draft strategic plan for the future of mental health, to build on the work that they have done already. I could go on forever about the work that has been done already. But the fact is that it is not finished; it is only halfway through. There is still more to do, and this Government will continue to work hard to ensure it occurs.

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