Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

The first part of the motion moved by the member for Sturt deals with:

... the importance of providing state-of-the-art mental health care for the mentally ill;

When we look at mental health, we note that with the introduction of newer antipsychotics there was a move towards deinstitutionalisation. This really began about 20 years ago. If I remember correctly, Glenside Hospital previously used to have a high wall around it and the attitudes towards mental health were very different. We have seen a period of deinstitutionalisation, but one of the problems has been that the state and territory governments did not put the resources into mental health that were required while they were taking people out of institutions and putting them into the community.

One of the things in the previous speaker’s contribution that I really need to address is this. He seemed to be blissfully unaware that anything has happened in the area of mental health since 2005. He seemed to be unaware that in the 2006 budget there was an extra $1.9 billion spent on mental health services. He should go back to his research and do a bit more work next time because it is incumbent on all members not to mislead the chamber and to actually come armed with the facts and not just empty rhetoric.

It was actually the member for Sturt who played a role in getting the government to commit an extra $1.9 billion over five years—and we might want to have a look at what the Mental Health Council of Australia and all the mental health lobby groups said at the time. I note this was a result of the Mental Health Council’s landmark report in 2005, which recommended an increased investment by the Commonwealth government in mental health services and recommended such things as getting GPs, specialist mental health nurses and psychiatrists more involved in Medicare to improve the detection, treatment and management of mental illness. There was also other money to provide an extra 900 new personal helpers and mentors to assist over 50,000 people with a mental illness. This is money that will be spent over the five years up to 2010.

I am sure that the new government, just as we have heard with the tax cuts and just as we have heard with water-harvesting projects in the member for Kingston’s electorate, will rebadge some of these things and they will now become their initiatives—but there is the fact: $1.9 billion over five years announced in the 2006 budget. When we look at the specific area of Glenside Hospital, what we find is the big announcement in respect of the hospital in recent times has been that $43 million will be spent on a film studio in the grounds of the hospital. What we see is a loss of 51 beds at the hospital while at the same time $43 million will be spent on a film studio in the grounds.

In South Australia, since 2000, more than 400 beds in privately run supported residences or boarding houses have closed. As a result, many people with mental illness have simply nowhere to go and are adding to the ranks of homeless. Dr Marco Giardini, Chairman of the South Australian branch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, has said:

We question whether this is the right time in the evolution of this State’s mental health services to sell off land which will forever be lost to mental health consumers and services.

The State is in dire need of a substantial increase in appropriately run, high quality supported accommodation options for those with serious, chronic mental illness.

Do not take my word for it. That statement is from the chairman of the South Australian branch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Community consultation has been a joke. The minister has never fronted it, and it has not resulted in any response from the government. (Time expired)

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