Oakden Mental Health Facility

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (14:47): Supplementary to that: why did the government then fail to finalise a model of care for an older persons mental health service, a failure which, according to the Chief Psychiatrist, has been the cause of ongoing deterioration in the Oakden service for a decade?

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:47): We know that when accreditation and concerns about the Oakden site have been raised in the past they have been fully addressed. Until October of last year, when the community visitor raised concerns with me, I was unaware that there were concerns on that site. At first, it was about the Spriggs family. We now know, because of the rigorous and forensic investigation by the Chief Psychiatrist, that there has been a very toxic and poor standard of care provided to the people at Oakden for a period of time that we have, since January, instituted a number of steps to improve.

Accreditation standards were met from the commonwealth agency as recently as last year for a three-year accreditation. I'm happy to work with Ken Wyatt and the federal government to talk about the aged-care review that he is doing across the country. I am happy that we have expanded the elder abuse select committee's terms of reference to include Oakden. We are being very transparent about this matter. We have stepped in, since January, to actively support changing the culture and breaking up the toxic cloud that was covering Oakden, ensuring that the people on that site are moved to better facilities at Northgate in the coming months and that the correct clinical environment is found for those other consumers and residents at Oakden, and their families working with them, and that they are safe and treated with the dignity they deserve.