Page 1271 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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I am sure members can appreciate that, through the many mechanisms I have touched on for reducing occupational violence, Canberra Health Services and the ACT Health Directorate consider that staff and patient safety are paramount to health service delivery.
I have been able to touch very briefly today on a number of matters that are contained in Mrs Dunne’s motion. As members who have read it will know, it is a long motion and there are many areas in which, frankly, I could talk about those topics for quite some hours, because there is a lot of detail in them and I think they are important issues to contemplate. As I have sought to convey today, and as I have been quite open about on previous occasions, we know that there are areas in the mental health system that need improvement.
What I have intended to do in my amendment, as I knew I would not be able to speak about all of the matters today, is outline and respond to as many as possible of Mrs Dunne’s points. So I have outlined the extensive number of reviews that have taken place in just the past three years. Mrs Dunne used the phrase “we can talk about it or we can do something about it”. Given the number of reviews we have had, we do not need another review. We do not need more talk about it; we need to do something about it.
As my amendment outlines, and as the points I have made today outline, we are doing something about it. We have brought a range of innovations and improvements into the ACT mental health system in the time that I have been minister. The ACT government created a dedicated mental health portfolio in order to ensure a greater focus on mental health care in this territory. We have brought more resources into mental health in recent years, each budget adding more money, more capacity and more capability in our community service partners.
I could talk about it much more; I am out of time. I move:
Omit all text after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes:
(a) the importance of the ACT Government providing a public mental health system that is efficient, timely, effective and safe for patients and staff;
(b) the Labor/Greens Parliamentary Agreement for the 9th Legislative Assembly provided for the establishment of an Office for Mental Health to oversee mental health services; and
(c) that the ACT Government created the ACT’s first Mental Health portfolio in 2016 to provide greater attention to mental health service delivery and this has been achieved;
(2) further notes that:
(a) as the ACT grows, we are seeing higher demands for mental health services—from early intervention and prevention measures through to emergency and intensive support;
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