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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4441 ..

MS REILLY: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. In the advertising supplement there is a number given that people can ring to get further information on these changes. You listed some then. Are these a secret that you have not told the staff; or have any of these changes, improvements, rearrangements, or whatever you call them, not been put into place?

MRS CARNELL: I assume the phone number is for the public to ring, not the staff. I am sure the staff are very well aware of the restructuring that has occurred.

Ms Reilly: When you ring that number, the staff at the other end do not seem to know about the changes, Mrs Carnell.

MRS CARNELL: I am confident that the staff are very well aware of the changes that have occurred in Mental Health Services over the last little while. I would be very surprised if the mental health crisis team was not aware of the moves. According to Mr Gianfrancesco, who did the initial report over 12 months ago, the 24-hour crisis service was simply not up to scratch. When he did a recent re-evaluation he determined that the mental health crisis service was now working very well; in fact, the service that was being provided was as good as it comes. I think the staff in that area should be extraordinarily pleased that in a very short period of time they have gone from being regarded as worse than most in Australia to now being regarded as better than most. I think that is a huge step in the right direction.

MR OSBORNE: My question is to the Chief Minister, Mrs Carnell. Chief Minister,
I have here part of a document entitled "ACT Government: Community Spirit/Sense-of-Community - Focus Group Discussions". It also has a very clear stamp which says "Commercial-in-Confidence" on the first page, on the second page and on every page. I seek leave to table this document, for the information of members.

Leave granted.

MR OSBORNE: The discussions which form the basis of this report were apparently held on 11 February this year. The survey was conducted by a company called the Value Creation Group. It asks a series of questions of citizens and ACT Government staff to gauge their reaction to how the Government was performing on a number of issues. It asks people to rate the importance of issues like "Good Representative Government", "Family Values" and the need to have "Accessible and Well Planned Services" within the Government. The responses of the community are then compared to the responses of the bureaucrats.

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