GLENSIDE HOSPITAL REDEVELOPMENT

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse a question about the Glenside Concept Master Plan.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: As many honourable members would be aware, a meeting was held for the adjoining residents in relation to the Glenside proposal. In one of her publications to local residents, the minister has indicated that the master plan (or the actual plan, if you like) will be released in December this year. It was reported on radio this morning that health department officials advised local residents that the government has no money to rebuild the site unless the land is sold, and also that the whole proposal is non-negotiable. My questions for the minister are:

1. Will the minister confirm whether this is the case?

2. Will the minister advise what the point of consultation is?

3. What aspects in the concept plan are negotiable?

4. What aspects of the proposal will actually be left to the City of Burnside?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health) (14:40): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions and also for the opportunity to talk about my commitment to the consultation process. Indeed, the state government has earmarked capital funds (which have been previously announced) that will be used as part of the funding for the Glenside reform agenda which I launched some time ago. It outlines the building of a new 129-bed hospital, consolidation of services and, of course, the whole redevelopment of the Glenside precinct into a health, cultural, commercial, retail and housing precinct with a commitment to significant amounts of open space, including wetlands.

To put that into context, the master plan was part of the reform agenda initiated by Monsignor Cappo and the Social Inclusion Board to bring our whole mental health system back into balance through a stepped model of mental health reform and a complete overhaul of the mental health system throughout South Australia—and Glenside is one plank in that. When I launched the Glenside Concept Master Plan I said, at the outset, that we would be consulting about the details of the plan and ensuring that the views of both the local and mental health communities were incorporated into it.

The Concept Master Plan clearly sets the policy priorities for redevelopment. Based on the work of the Social Inclusion Commission and the board, we made a very firm commitment to destigmatise Glenside by opening up the space and replacing the facilities which are currently there (and which were built in an era of institutionalisation and custodial-type care). We have committed to rebuild state-of-the-art, modern mental health facilities and other health facilities there, as well. We want to make Glenside connected to the community and bring the community into the campus for cultural activities, to create opportunities for work, and to be able to live in a near-city location. As I have previously said in this place, the current campus consists of something like 64 buildings spread out across the site, many of them out of date, in poor repair and uninhabitable.

By consolidating the health facilities on the site into a new purpose-built building, we will be able to free up parts of the land for redevelopment and responsibly use the income from that development to help build the excellent new treatment facilities. We would expect funding to come from the previously committed capital expenditure, as well as the income from that development. Of course, I have reminded people before that the reform agenda will result in an overall increase of 86 adult beds across our mental health system. I think it is exciting that the development will include additional residential areas. Many of the neighbours of the current Glenside site live on land which was once part of Glenside Hospital in the past and which was eventually sold for housing.

There are a number of people who are already neighbours and have benefited from such redevelopment in the past and who very much enjoyed living in that close location. The housing development is about helping to contain our urban sprawl and improve social and environmental outcomes. Some people have questioned why we have not yet released the detail of the master plan, particularly for the residential development, for the hospital and for other health facilities. From the very beginning, we said that we will consult clinicians as well as mental health consumers in the design of the new facilities. Our policy brief is that we will have a world-class facility, and we will now be consulting carefully about those details to bring that about.

The design of these facilities will be driven by the models of care currently being designed in consultation with a wide range of experts. Of course, in addition to the consultation going on with the mental health community, I have also instructed the Department of Health to begin a process of consulting with the local community. We have deliberately chosen not to predetermine the outcome of those details—such as the number of entrances to the health facility and other parts of the site, road placement in the residential area and detailed design of the recreational space—before we have consulted with the community. Those are the sorts of things that we have commenced, and we want the neighbours to that site to have an opportunity to have input into those sorts of decisions.

Part of the process, of course, is gathering information and views from the community. I have asked senior officers to hold a number of community forums aimed at gathering direct input from a wide range of local residents so that they can have their say. The format of those meetings has been designed to ensure that not just the loud voices are heard but the quiet voices as well, and that everyone has a chance to have their say and raise issues of concern, and that, in turn, we have the chance to respond to each of those individual comments and concerns. All of the input from those forums will be fed back to me personally, and I have asked that those views be taken seriously in drawing up the details of the plan as well as in forming the design aspects of the plan.

Consultation for this project began with the launch of the concept master plan. That involved discussions with the staff, unions, non-government organisations, consumers and a wide range of other stakeholders. The community residential listening events were another step in that. I remind members that there will also be, as part of the planning process, a two-month statutory public consultation process, so there will be plenty of opportunity for people to provide further input.

I have also indicated that I would like to establish a community reference group to meet regularly to bring together a number of local community and other stakeholder groups to nominate local residents and other important stakeholders, and I intend to work very closely with that group during the coming months. I hope that the reference group members will provide input and contact for the local community voice to maintain an ongoing dialogue.

Other opportunities we have made available for information and consultation with the community include a range of staff and union meetings, a toll-free information line—which is not just about providing information to people who requested it but it also enables people to feed their views and opinions to us—and a website, Mr President, that I know you are very keen on. This site not only provides up-to-date information but again provides the opportunity for people to ask questions or voice opinions, and suchlike, and we respond to those.

There has also been a communication sheet, and a range of those will go out. I have already met and scheduled meetings with different groups as part of the consultation process: local schools, local councils, professional organisations such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Mental Health Coalition and the NGO sector, including consumers and carers, at the Margaret Tobin awards during Mental Health Week. So, as you can see, Mr President, a very extensive and comprehensive community consultation process has commenced and will continue.