Page 4292 - Week 13 - Thursday, 14 December 2006
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Health—mental
(Question No 1422)
Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Health, upon notice, on 23 November 2006:
(1) How many times has it been necessary to use section 92 of the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act 1994;
(2) How many people have been detained through the application of this section;
(3) What were the specific reasons for the detention of each of these people;
(4) For those people who were detained (a) where and (b) how long were they detained.
Ms Gallagher: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) There is no record of section 92 of the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act 1994 ever being used.
(2) There have been no people detained through the application of this section of the Act.
(3) Not applicable.
(4) Not applicable.
Children—protection
(Question No 1423)
Dr Foskey asked the Minister for Disability and Community Services, upon notice, on 23 November 2006:
Do Child Protection Unit officers ever act in contravention to custodial decisions made by the courts; if so, (a) how many times has this occurred since 1 July 2005 and (b) what is the general reason for such actions being taken.
Ms Gallagher: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(a) There are occasions when Care and Protection Services will make an application for a Care and Protection Order that will then supersede a Family Law Order. Care and Protection Services do not keep statistics of the number of cases where this has occurred.
(b) A Family Law Order does not in any way indicate that the Family Court has considered and made a decision on care and protection issues. The vast majority of Family Court orders are made by consent without any consideration of who is the better parent or other issues by the court.
The Family Law Act 1975 has a provision, section 69ZK, which specifically provides that Family Law Orders do not effect the jurisdiction of a court, or power of an authority under a child welfare law. This means that child protection action overrides Family Law Orders.
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