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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2304 ..
MS TUCKER (continuing):
with no venue or program funds allocated against it. Meanwhile, organisations such as the Belconnen Community Centre continue to create and offer programs seeking to address the same needs on what inevitably becomes an ad hoc basis.
The approach is not coherent, reflecting the fact that the mental health strategic plan lacks performance indicators and timeframes. That leaves constituents uneasy in the belief that funding and policy decisions are driven by personal rather than social goals. That is what I am hearing from the community.
An evaluation of Child and Adolescent Mental Health a couple of years ago was shocking in its comments on problems there. The response of government to this review has been inadequate. I have spoken to too many families whose loved ones have died or experienced serious trauma as a result of system failure in this sector. Rehabilitation and daytime occupation for people with mental illness are still woefully inadequate. Carers are still inadequately supported by respite services.
This government calls a subsidy to the private sector, such as the funding of the V8 car race, an investment in Canberra's future, but funding critical mental health services is a greater investment in Canberra's future and a basic responsibility of government. I know that Mr Moore has done some work in the area, and I give credit where it has been done.
There will be a facility to separate adolescents from adults in the hospital, although even this situation is flexible, depending on need. There will be a better system of file management, which we desperately need and which, according to the coroner, was one of the reasons for a death. Why did someone have to die for this to happen? The coroner, once again, has commented on systems failure in this government's processes.
The same criticism can be made in the area of disability services. Once again, I had the experience of going through a full inquiry into this area and have ongoing contacts with people in this field. There have been several catastrophic and appalling incidents in the area of disability services which indicate ongoing systemic failure.
On the other hand, we have the introduction of a medical call centre coming out of left field on the back of no public consultation. While the concept may or may not be a valuable thing, the surprise and, it appears, hostility expressed by the medical profession only illustrate further erosion of social capital.
Mr Moore: They ran for it.
MS TUCKER: The continuing shortage of nurses in Canberra Hospital, which we have had some explanation of tonight, let alone the recent problem-
Mr Humphries: She is not listening. She never listens.
MS TUCKER: Mr Moore is quite able to speak after this. I am happy to listen to him and I am happy to seek leave to respond. I am happy to listen to his arguments; he does not have to interject. If he wants to, fine, but I do not interject and I do not think that it is necessary for sensible debate.
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