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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 6 Hansard (15 May) . . Page.. 1645 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

In many cases, push comes to shove. If they shove a policeman, they often find themselves in the back of a paddy wagon. They are then taken to the watchhouse, where they may be charged. They may end up in the BRC-and that is not where they should be.

Police officers have told me that people as diverse as the Mental Health Advisory Council, the Schizophrenia Fellowship, the Mental Health Network, and the Mental Health Carers Network of the ACT all talk about a sobering-up facility.

In consultation with the community, they said they were not happy with the term "sobering-up" because it did not apply to somebody who needed to be helped, over a two or three-day period, to get back on to their medication and get some counselling-or further assistance for their dilemma. The community came up with the concept of calling it a time-out facility. So, instead of being taken to the watchhouse and ending up in the BRC, you would take some time out to get back into a normal routine that may put you back where you belong. You may end up on remand in the BRC, but, through another part of the suite of facilities those with mental health difficulties deserve, there would be an attempt to make sure that does not happen.

Such a facility could also be used for respite care for carers. The government made great stock of saying they will put extra money into respite care, and we welcome that. I am glad to hear that the potential for the budget at the end of the year is $31 million of unexpected money, which may lead to extra services. People want the option of respite care for those who care for somebody with a mental health problem.

You could help people in developing life skills, or you could help them get their medication regime back to where it should be. You could perhaps put a few square meals into them and then reintegrate them into the community with their friends or family, where they should be.

However, from the government we are hearing a litany of stalling tactics. They are simply not listening to the community. Until last night, they were not willing to concede that perhaps this was a good idea. The Minister for Health has systematically failed to answer this challenge. The initial reaction from the minister for corrections was that no way would we get a time-out facility. "I am building a $3 million fence around the problem rather than looking at the root cause of the problem."

I was accused of making a gaff because there is Hennessy House, and these people could go there. There is a problem with using Hennessy House. It is designed for those with a medium to severe long-term mental disability, and that is where they should be housed. You cannot divert from Hennessy House. They got that wrong.

Then I did not know my facts and figures, apparently, so I asked for the facts and figures. It is interesting to look at Mr Quinlan's set of figures. Mr Quinlan could not answer the question as to how many people in the remand centre had a mental health problem, but he could tell me the number of services provided. I will read them from July 2001 forward. In July, there were 188 different services.

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