Page 249 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2019
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working closely with the AEU and their members to make sure that schools are safe places for everyone.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, what duty of care do you owe to staff who are working in these conditions?
MS BERRY: I have taken pretty much immediate action. I think I have made that clear in this place.
MS LEE: Minister, have you given your directorate a target for reduced violence in ACT schools to be achieved by 30 June 2020? If so, what is the measure of that target; if not, why not?
MS BERRY: No, because as I have discussed in this place time and time again, workplace violence, particularly in a school setting, is a complex issue. We are at the start of addressing the issue in the ACT, the first in the country to do so. We will work very closely with the union and its members to make sure that we get there. It will mean, as I said, that there will be further and increased reporting as we encourage teachers and school staff to report issues in their schools so they can be properly addressed.
Mental health—performance
MRS DUNNE: My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen some alarming statistics about failures in the mental health system. I seek leave to table two graphics, one from today’s Canberra Times online showing patients languishing waiting for mental health treatment and the other a page from the ROGS report.
Leave granted.
MRS DUNNE: I table the following papers:
Canberra—Slipping standards—Infogram—Copy of graph.
Mental health outcomes of consumers of State and Territory governments’ specialised mental health services, 2016-17—Copy of graphs.
Minister, why, under your watch, have mental health figures in the emergency department, over-capacity in the adult mental health unit and mental health outcomes for patients and workplace safety for hospital staff deteriorated so dramatically?
MR RATTENBURY: It is true that we have seen an increase in demand for mental health services, particularly in the emergency department but right across the system. As I have said in this place before, one of the positives in the mental health space at the moment is that the breaking down of the stigma around mental health is seeing more people seek treatment or identifying as someone who needs help. This is a positive thing, but it presents a real challenge to the service system. The service system needs to adapt to cope with that increased demand and that changing
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