Page 1972 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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some concerns about how some of those dynamics will be managed. I have questions around what the scope is to isolate patients who may have conflict issues with other patients and I look forward to receiving a basic explanation of how this will be done when required.
The facility is a completely new model of care for us here in the ACT, a model that we have not embarked on before, and naturally there are some serious concerns about how the facility will be run practically on a day-to-day basis.
I have spoken previously in this place about the safety of nurses in the adult mental health unit and have also spoken about the staffing numbers and importance of keeping staff safe in the adult mental health unit. Echoing this, I do have some concerns around nurses and other medical and support staff within the new secure mental health facility and how they will be kept completely safe as much as possible from assault or abuse.
Given the challenges in recruiting and maintaining specialised staff at the adult mental health unit, I also have concerns regarding this staffing for the secure mental health facility and I have seen nothing from the government that truly allays my concerns.
The Canberra Liberals will be supporting the Mental Health (Secure Facilities) Bill 2016 and we are supportive of the facility. We look forward to it opening. However, we continue to ask many questions and we need to understand how this complex task is being managed. If the staffing or security in the facility is not fully developed in time I hope we will not see a ribbon cutting just for the sake of an election campaign.
Let us get this right. Those in our care deserve a facility that serves them well. I will be seeking regular briefings to ensure that everyone in the facility is properly cared for. I state again that the Canberra Liberals will support the bill in this place today.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (4.56): The ACT Greens welcome today’s debate and I will be supporting the bill before us as it represents the next and near-final step to the ACT having a fully functional and operational secure mental health facility. As most members here today would be aware, the Assembly has been discussing the need for such a facility for some time. It has been described variously by the courts, the mental health advocacy groups and others as the missing link or the final piece of the puzzle—both expressions that I would agree with.
I joined my former colleague in the last Assembly, Amanda Bresnan, in advocating for the construction of a secure mental health facility and I can now say, with my ministerial responsibilities for corrections, that I am even more supportive, if that is indeed possible.
The current landscape of mental health services is as diverse as our community and offers a wide range of personal, medical and physical interventions. However, a truly secure facility outside of the jail is sorely needed. This facility needs to be capable of therapeutically supporting patients who may have criminal behaviours yet are found not guilty by way of impairment, or others who require a more secure and long-term mental health treatment environment and who have for some time been disadvantaged in the ACT.
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