Page 1540 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
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Additionally, in the ACT regional growth has determined a need to provide an increased range of mental health services locally, including more comprehensive forensic mental health services which require a legislative framework. An extensive review of the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act has been underway in the ACT in line with recent reviews in other Australian jurisdictions and other countries.
At the beginning of the review of the act, the ACT government made it clear to the community that we wanted a thorough review that involved mental health consumers, carers and other stakeholders. It has been a long and thorough process. One stakeholder who has been a significant contributor to the review since its beginning recently commented that the resulting act will truly be community legislation, such has been the level of involvement of stakeholders and opportunities for members of the public to contribute.
The ACT review has been guided by an advisory group of over 40 stakeholders, including mental health consumers and carers, advocacy groups and agencies responsible for implementing the act. This group has persevered in guiding significant change.
The review began in 2006 with the release of the first discussion paper for public consultation. In November 2007 an options paper was released which examined in more detail issues including the relationship in mental health legislation between voluntary and involuntary treatment and care, advanced directives and forensic mental health.
During 2008 and 2009 the review advisory group examined the complex issues around decision-making capacity, supported and substituted decisions, and assessment of a person’s decision-making capacity in the context of mental illness and as a criterion for involuntary treatment orders. Currently, risk to self or others is the main criterion for making mental health orders. Internationally, advances in human rights frameworks are driving a change towards capacity-based mental health law. This work led to the 2009 public consultation on these issues through a framework paper.
As you will see, the ACT review has embraced this change but this approach is tempered with caution. At the same time, a specific forensic mental health options paper was released. The paper, together with feedback from stakeholders and the public, underpins the forensic mental health amendments presented today.
In August 2012 the Attorney-General and I agreed to the release of a paper titled “First exposure draft of the mental health amendment bill for public comment.” Early in the review we had agreed that the proposed amendments to the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act would go through a two-stage exposure draft process so the community and stakeholders could be confident that their contributions had been taken into account.
The two-stage exposure draft process and public consultation was complemented by meetings with stakeholder groups, briefings to members of the Legislative Assembly and an iterative process with a review advisory group. The time taken for the review compares with contemporary reviews in larger jurisdictions that have been considering a similar magnitude of change.
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