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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Thursday, 11 March 2004) . . Page.. 1099 ..

desperate need of assistance and probably a complete overhaul. However, we all need to have a good look at ourselves before that can happen. It is no good just throwing money at the problem or sacking a few public servants and hoping it will all go away, because it will not. It will continue to get worse until we as legislators understand the seriousness of the problem and do something to make a meaningful change.

I was most impressed when I saw a report on 60 Minutes only two weekends ago about two people who had managed to control a serious mental health condition and now wanted to increase the awareness of the condition and mental health problems in general. It often takes the mainstream media to take on a problem before it becomes recognised by the general public and politicians. In that report it was stated that one in six Australians—and some will say one in five—have or will experience a mental health condition. That means that three or four of us in this Chamber have or will experience a mental health condition. Most of us will have a family member or close friend who will be afflicted by some form of mental health condition. It also means that more than 50,000 Canberrans have or will experience a mental health condition. That is a staggering number and yet the amount of money allocated to mental health in our budget is minuscule in comparison. I was amazed to hear the Chief Minister say in a recent interview in Canberra that Canberra was too small for a certain type of mental health facility. Just how many people with a serious problem do we have to have before he thinks Canberra is big enough to need such a facility?

I am told by a local pharmacist that I would be amazed at the number of senior people within our community who take medication regularly to control mental health conditions. These include people who are in positions where they make significant decisions about the way our country is run. They have recognised and control their condition with the use of drugs and few people would even know they have a problem. However, there are plenty of people who have not been so fortunate or who have more severe conditions. Many of these people end up being marginalised by the mainstream because their condition either goes unrecognised or untreated because the system is limited or non-existent. Often this results in antisocial behaviour. They sometimes hurt themselves or others. With a little help many of these problems could be avoided. One of the major problems people with mental health conditions experience is a stigma attached to the condition. This is one of the first things that need to be addressed before any real headway can be made.

Few people want to admit they personally have a problem—that is, of course, if they are able to recognise that they do. Family members are often the worst enemy of someone with a mental health problem. Because of their love for the person they make constant adjustments and excuses for the person’s behaviour. It is very difficult to say to someone you love, “You have a problem, you need to get help”. Because of the stigma surrounding mental health few people are able to admit to their workmates or colleagues that they have a problem. While no-one has a problem if someone takes a day or two off work because they have the flu, few workplaces will allow someone the same privilege because they were suffering from depression or having an anxiety attack. It is about time that we as legislators helped change attitudes to mental health. We need to instigate information campaigns to assist people in identifying problems before they become serious. We have no problem in spending significant amounts of public money on encouraging people to stay fit, to eat better, to quit or not take up smoking, to see a doctor about possible cancers and so on, but little has been done to show people how to

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