Mental health week
Statement
HON ALISON XAMON (East Metropolitan) [5.21 pm]: I rise tonight to discuss the issue that is perhaps closest to my heart—that of mental health. This is Mental Health Week and I am aware that members in this place had the opportunity only this morning to discuss mental health issues and where the government is at on that issue. I would have loved the opportunity to participate in that debate, but unfortunately I was called away on other urgent parliamentary business and was, much to my disappointment, unable to contribute to the debate. I would therefore like to say few words now. I have spoken often in this place about matters of mental health, but the significance of this week provides an important opportunity to draw specific focus.
Earlier this week, I was one of the parliamentarians privileged enough to attend the Mental Health Good Outcomes Awards, and I am aware that Hon Helen Morton has already been good enough to give formal recognition in this place to all those worthy and amazing recipients. All the winners and the nominees are extraordinary people and I am very grateful for the critical work that they do; the world is a better place because of them. I also want to give out a personal congratulation to two of the recipients in particular—Lorraine Powell and Ann White. These are two extraordinary women, and I feel privileged to know them. When both of them won, it took all my effort not to start a Mexican wave at the table. However, I managed to restrain myself, which is probably best considering that I was sitting at the same table as both the minister and the Commissioner for Mental Health. They may have thought that behaviour a little unseemly.
Although the awards were certainly positive, this week also serves as a salient reminder to check in where we are at with mental health. I have to say that it really is not as good as I had hoped, 18 months ago, that it would be. I know that I am not alone in that. I was pleased with the Liberal Party’s pre-election promise to make mental health a priority. The Liberal Party’s pre-election policy document on mental health stated that a Liberal government would work immediately to improve the condition of Western Australia’s mental health system. I acknowledge the first part of that commitment is on its way to being delivered; that is, I acknowledge that mental health is certainly a higher priority than it has been for successive previous governments. Establishing a mental health minister and creating the Mental Health Commission are initiatives that I have applauded and supported and ones that I believe have the potential to provide a much-needed focus on mental health. However, my deep concern is that beyond the titles and the plans and the reviews we are simply not seeing the necessary improvements on the ground. A lot of people are feeling terribly let down by that, and I am one of them. When it comes to front-line services, in the past two years we have seen overall budget cuts; the closure of front-line services, such as the Morley health clinic closure, which has not been without problems despite the assurances I received; and no significant expansion of any service. The initiatives paraded by this government as service expansions are, in the main, initiatives that came about as a result of the previous government. We really have not seen large-scale expansion. I understand that the government may argue that expansion is still to come, but two years is a very long time; we are not talking two months. The massive cuts that occurred in the 2009–10 budget were both disingenuous and devastating. I know now that at least in the 2010–11 budget there is a line in the sand in the budget from which we can better determine from here on in the degree to which the budgets will be altered. But it really is a bit meaningless if the baseline has effectively been butchered, which it was.
I receive complaints constantly from people around the state, not simply from people in my electorate, about their difficulties in accessing front-line services. I suspect that I am not the only member of this place who receives these sorts of complaints. Two years to wait for services is simply too long for someone with a mental illness; they cannot wait and it is not okay to ask them to wait. This government will need to start acting with far more urgency on its pre-election promises. It needs to drastically improve its front-line services now and it needs to fund them accordingly. I am fully aware that the government inherited a neglected system. But, seriously, how long does the government expect to be able to use that as an excuse?
I simply do not have the time to go into all the areas of concern, but I will touch on some in particular in the short time I have. Firstly, I want to make some comments about the prevalence of mental illness in our prisons. The Liberal Party mental health policy states that the responsibility for caring for seriously ill patients is being pushed on to the community and prisons, which are ill-equipped to manage the medical and psychological needs of patients. Those are good words. Clearly there was some understanding and recognition by someone in the Liberal Party that this was a problem. But the measures we have seen in practice in the past two years to address this issue have gone in the wrong direction. Our prisons continue to be ill-equipped to provide appropriate mental health care. It is with some despair that I read the draft Hansard of the debates in the other place on this issue. I am really not left with the impression that the Minister for Corrective Services gets the seriousness of the issue; and I am really, really concerned about that.
The legislation that this government introduces continues to catch the vulnerable mentally ill. I am talking about mandatory sentencing, prohibited behaviour orders and the potential stop-and-search legislation. This matter needs to be addressed. It is not good enough to come out with a hard law and order agenda on one hand, and on the other hand claim to be the party that is proactively trying to address issues of mental illness, when in fact it is simply putting more people with mental illness into prison, where they do not get the care they desperately need. All that does is lock up more and more of the mentally ill. I absolutely believe that we have gone backwards in this area. I think it is worse than it was under the previous government.
I also want to talk about the promise to fund a peak mental health consumer body, which was also a key election commitment. I know that there have been many discussions about this promise, particularly coming from the Mental Health Commission. A discussion paper was released in September by the consultant who was engaged to work on the establishment of the peak consumer body, but it still has not come. It is a long time coming. Consumers are getting very frustrated and, as a result, have lacked a strong voice, while services at clinics have been cut and other services have been reduced. Consumers are frustrated and want to see this matter addressed— and they want to see it addressed urgently.
I also want to mention the Mental Health Act, which is a classic example of an inherited problem; I absolutely acknowledge that. The act was reviewed in 2004 and the Liberal Party undertook to introduce a new act. Although I am aware that an expert group was put together to look at the review, we are still waiting to see the first round of suggestions on what the government proposes to fulfil its promise. Once again we have had lots of promises but we are still waiting on the delivery. The sheer time it is taking has meant that the whole debate has shifted. Now a range of mental health advocates are questioning the need for a mental health act at all and are starting to talk about the need for an impairment act. But that is a discussion for another time.
I refer again to the issue of suicide and suicide prevention. I mentioned in my inaugural speech how pleased I was that there appeared to be quite a strong focus on the issue of suicide prevention and an increased level of funding. So it is with great sadness that I say that although the funding has been allocated, the people on the ground are indicating that they are yet to see any form of appreciable difference. People do not seem to feel confident that this money is being spent wisely. They, basically, cannot see the improvements that are meant to be coming.
As to the issue of rural and remote health, I welcome the $22 million for Aboriginal mental services but note the repeated calls for better services in the South West. Of course, the Law Reform Commission’s calls for a mental impairment court intervention program are yet to be heeded; I am hoping we can make some progress on that.
People who work in the sector are despairing, as are people who attempt to access services—both carers and consumers. The government needs to stop thinking it can drift on, basking in the glory of creating a new ministry, because, frankly, it is starting to sound old. We need to get some serious money into mental health and we need to do something now.