Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Centre for Excellence

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:39): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I am pleased to announce that the chair of The Repat Foundation will lead a panel of experienced veterans' representatives and clinical experts to advise on the location and model of the new Post-Traumatic Stress Centre for Excellence. Associate Professor Susan Neuhaus CSC will lead the input of the veteran community, which is vital to the successful planning of the new $15 million centre. Professor Neuhaus is a reservist who has been on active service in deployments to Afghanistan, Bougainville and Cambodia.

Ward 17 at the Repat provides a high quality and valued post-traumatic stress treatment service for veterans. However, the quality of the building does not match the quality of the service, which is why, as part of Transforming Health, we have allocated $15 million for a centre for the treatment of post-traumatic stress to replace Ward 17.

The knowledge and experience of the veterans' representatives and the clinicians who work in the service will ensure that the new centre for excellence provides the same high level service in an appropriate location for veterans. The staff at the Repat's Ward 17 have led many of the national advances in the treatment of post-traumatic stress. With the input from the new panel of veterans' experts, the government is confident that South Australia's reputation as a leader in this field will continue to be improved by the development of the new centre, wherever that may be.

The Veterans Advisory Panel will be co-chaired by Associate Professor Susan Neuhaus and Professor Dorothy Keefe, Clinical Ambassador, Transforming Health, and the first meeting should be held next month. The first members of the Veterans Post-Traumatic Stress Centre for Excellence Expert Panel will include:

Associate Professor Susan Neuhaus CSC and Dorothy Keefe, as I have said;

David Everitt, who is chair of the Veterans Health Advisory Council;

Brigadier Laurie Lewis, member of the Veterans Health Advisory Council;

Professor Sandy McFarlane, director of the University of Adelaide Centre for Post-Traumatic Stress Studies and an acknowledged world expert in this particular field;

Associate Professor Tarun Bastiampillai, who is the director of Mental Health Strategy for the Department of Health and Ageing; and

Dr Taryn Cowain, Clinical Head of Unit, Ward 17, Department of Psychiatry.

There will be more members added to the group in the coming weeks, and this will likely include a veteran consumer and care representative as well as representatives from other veteran groups and other front-line emergency workers.