Page 4468 - Week 12 - Thursday, 26 October 2017
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review of mental health services. The report was titled Suicide and Contributing Factors in the ACT and was to be released in 2015. Two year later, it has not been released. Minister, why has this report not been released two years after it was finished?
MR RATTENBURY: I am glad Mrs Dunne asked me about this because it is actually the subject of question on notice No 604 which she asked me about on Tuesday and I was going to give an update after question time. This solves that question.
There were some problems with the preparation of that report. The authors involved in that report were not able to complete their work, for personal reasons. There have been some questions raised about that report; it was drawn to my attention earlier this year.
ACT Health has some concerns with the final form in which the report has been presented but my view on this matter is that it is valuable for the report to be released even though the full analysis was not completed. I have asked ACT Health to prepare that work so that the report can be released. I am hopeful it will be ready very shortly because I think it contains valuable information both for those who were generous enough to give their own personal experiences and views to the consultation process and also for community organisations and academics to take it, with some of the caveats that it will come with, as an important source of information.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, how much did the report cost? Why has it taken so long for the government agency to put the report in a form suitable for publication?
MR RATTENBURY: I will have to take the first half of the question on notice. I am not sure off the top of my head. In terms of the second half, I think the agency was concerned. When I raised it with them this year, their advice to me was that they were uncertain about whether it was able to be published. But I have formed the view that it should be published, and it will be published shortly.
MS LEE: Minister, when will the government respond to the report, and when will it be released?
MR RATTENBURY: I had not intended to respond to the report per se. It is a research report. I will have to reflect on whether it contains formal recommendations. I cannot recall if it comes in that form. But it is not a report that I think it was expected that the government would formally respond to.
Arts—funding
MS ORR: My question is to the Minister for Arts and Community Events. Can the minister update the Assembly on the outcome of the 2018 project funding round?
MR RAMSAY: I thank Ms Orr for the question and her interest in the arts. I was pleased last Friday to announce the outcome of the 2018 arts project funding round. Forty-eight artists, arts groups and community organisations across all forms of arts
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