Page 4537 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 26 November 2019
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of the south side step-up step-down unit adjacent to the Canberra Hospital. This facility will complement other existing step-up step-down facilities across the territory, providing an option for people who need additional support for a few weeks to avoid a hospital admission or following admission to assist them to transition back to the community. In May this year we opened the first of four supported accommodation houses, with two more scheduled to be completed next year. There is also a refurbishment of the extended care unit underway. All of these facilities will complement the existing acute capacity and better support people through the system.
It is important to acknowledge the work that the leadership of Canberra Health Services has done to improve the experience of mental health patients in the Canberra community. Considering that mental health presentations resulting in admissions to the emergency department at Canberra Hospital have increased by 137.7 per cent since 2014-15, the service has worked to reduce bed block and ensure that patients are transferred to an appropriate care setting. In partnership with consumers and carers, they continually look for ways to improve the quality and breadth of service provided to the community. PACER and the purpose-built step-up down facility are just two examples of that.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the staff of the mental health, justice health and alcohol and drug services of Canberra Health Services, who work every day with some of the most vulnerable people in our community to keep them well and safe and to ensure that they can live self-determined lives as they travel through what can often be a very long journey with mental illness. Finally, I would like to acknowledge all of those people with a lived experience of mental health issues whose unique insight informs and enables better service design. I present the following paper:
Mental health patient data—Ministerial statement, 26 November 2019.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
Debate (on motion by Mr Wall) adjourned to the next sitting.
Crimes (Disrupting Criminal Gangs) Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
Debate resumed from 24 October 2019, on motion by Mr Ramsay:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (11.22): The Canberra Liberals will be supporting this bill. It contains a range of amendments to deal with issues of criminal gang activity, notably since the passage of anti-gang laws in all the other states and territory. These include new tiered defences of serious affray; tougher penalties for offences of fighting and offensive behaviour under the Crimes Act 1900; increased maximum penalties for offences committed in connection with criminal groups or committed by a person associated with a criminal group; a scheme to exclude certain people from
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