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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-28 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

GLENSIDE HOSPITAL REDEVELOPMENT

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:29): Today in question time the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse talked about the transfer of 10 secure beds from Glenside to James Nash House at Oakden. The big problem is that those beds are required not by people in the justice system or the prison system but by people who have committed no crime but are still in desperate need of acute mental health assistance and require those mental health beds to be kept at Glenside. Today I wish to read into Hansard a letter I received signed by 'very concerned staff at Glenside Hospital'. The letter states:

Given that nursing staff are scared to speak publicly about the destruction of the Glenside Hospital (the fear of losing their jobs and other disciplinary action) we would like to give you a quick summary of the deliberate running down of this once wonderful hospital.

There is then the title 'The plunder of mental health resources and just what the patients have lost'. Some of this goes back to Liberal Party times, but I guarantee that this was not all due to the Liberals. The letter continues:

Mid 70s—Z ward given to Mines Department (99 year lease)

Late 70s—The large orchard was sold to the Jewish community for school.

Mid 80s—The large passenger bus, bought by proceeds of the patients canteen and was used extensively for patients ward outings and camps, was sold and the money put into general revenue, with the promise of it being used later.

Late 80s—The holiday house that patients had at Carrickalinga that was bought by the proceeds of the patients canteen, plus a bequest and used for the wards to take patients for holidays, was sold—and the money put into general government revenue.

Then in the 1990s—I reckon my colleague the veterinarian and then health minister Dr John Cornwall initiated this and if I am wrong I am sure I will be corrected, but it is something that I can say I would not do, because you can see what is happening at the moment with Glenside—the land along Greenhill Road and Conyngham Street was sold for a retirement village and private housing. Then we jump to the 2000s. The letter further states:

2000+—When mental health came under [the other venues of] state control, none or minimal repairs were done to heritage or other buildings (they were allowed to fall into disrepair to justify off-loading them due to repair costs down the track).

Late 2008—Maintenance staff i.e. carpenters, plumbers, electricians, painters etc. given packages or redeployed. Now no regular maintenance work is done (urgent repairs only) by private contractors. You have to wait despite the inconvenience.

Now the patients and staff have lost the beautiful heritage administration building to SA Film. That contains still old antique furniture that was made in workshops by talented patients—given to the arts—not even the general public, so only the select few will benefit. The patients have even lost their old bluestone chapel to private enterprise, sold from under them. This chapel was used for memorial services for patients, and in the current transition plans all the patients get in return is a sad, clinical multidenominational 'contemplation room'. How could Monsignor Cappo allow this? Social inclusion of the mentally ill? A nice way of saying the rape and plunder of resources of the mentally ill. The new Glenside—42 per cent of what's left.

We should reopen wards that have been closed down. Many of these were only built in the 1980s and are sadly going to be bulldozed to the ground to make way for private housing when Rann sells off the land. We have thousands of people homeless in this state, and a big percentage of them suffer from mental health issues. There is nowhere for them to go to get help. We have prisons that are overflowing with mentally ill inmates, where are these people going to go once released? And with the chronic drug problems we have in Adelaide, amphetamines, ecstasy, ice and so on, we are headed for a tsunami of seriously ill people who will fall through the cracks and put the safety of our community at risk. Mike Rann is not doing this to Glenside for the mentally ill, he is doing this for his close personal friend Richard Harris the CEO of SA Film. Rann even took him on a holiday last year to meet with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Did South Australian taxpayers pay for Mr Harris for this jaunt? Even Monsignor Cappo is good friends with Cheryl Bart—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I rise on a point of order, sir. The member, I think unintentionally, is implying improper motive with respect to the Premier, and I think he can only do that by substantive motion.

The SPEAKER: I have to admit that I have not been paying close attention. I will listen to what the member for Morphett is saying. I think he has another 10 seconds or so. So, if the member for Morphett wants to complete his speech.

Dr McFETRIDGE: I will not read all the letter because it is extensive, but it is an indictment of what is happening to mental health in this state today and it is a shame. This will be Jane's shame. Glenside will be forever remembered as Jane's shame. The changes that are going on there are a disgrace. What is happening to mental health in this state is a disgrace and Jane Lomax-Smith, the Minister for Mental Health, should know a lot better being a medical professional.

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